title: Relation between in vitro production of ascosonchine and virulence of strains of the potential mycoherbicide Ascochyta sonchi: a method for its quantification in complex samples.
abstract: The potential of the fungus Ascochyta sonchi as a mycoherbicide for the biocontrol of the perennial weeds Sonchus arvensis and Cirsium arvense that occur throughout temperate regions of the world is under evaluation. Ascosonchine, a newly discovered enol tautomer of 4-pyridylpyruvic acid with potential herbicidal properties, is the main phytotoxin produced by this fungus. A simple and sensitive method has been developed for the rapid quantitative analysis of ascosonchine based on HPLC with UV detection. The toxin content in culture filtrates of different strains of A. sonchi was measured. The strains tested produced up to 2.7 mg/L when grown in static conditions. Toxin production was compared with the virulence on the host plant of each strain to determine if the most virulent strains could be simply selected by choosing the best toxin producers. The results obtained do not support this approach. The same HPLC method was also applied to quantify toxin production under different fungal growth conditions, in order to achieve the highest toxin production. The most productive strain synthesised more than 8 mg/L when grown for 8 weeks in static conditions.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze del Suolo della Pianta e dell'Ambiente, Università di Napoli Federico II, Portici, Italy. evidente@unina.it
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Evidente
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Berestetskiy
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Andolfi
authors.forename: Maria Chiara
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Zonno
authors.forename: Alessio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cimmino
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vurro
mesh_terms: D001203:Ascomycota / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods; D031180:Cirsium / Q000382:microbiology; D006540:Herbicides / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D011725:Pyridines / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D019289:Pyruvic Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D031184:Sonchus / Q000382:microbiology; D014774:Virulence
chemical_list: D006540:Herbicides; D011725:Pyridines; C515114:ascosonchine; D019289:Pyruvic Acid