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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, January 2000, p. 320-324, Vol. 66, No. 1
Department of Entomology, University of
Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742-4454
Received 29 April 1999/Accepted 1 November 1999
Aspergillus spp. cause disease in a broad range of
organisms, but it is unknown if strains are specialized for particular hosts. We evaluated isolates of Aspergillus flavus,
Aspergillus fumigatus, and Aspergillus nidulans
for their ability to infect bean leaves, corn kernels, and insects
(Galleria mellonella). Strains of A. flavus did
not affect nonwounded bean leaves, corn kernels, or insects at 22°C,
but they killed insects following hemocoelic challenge and caused
symptoms ranging from moderate to severe in corn kernels and bean
leaves injured during inoculation. The pectinase P2c, implicated in
aggressive colonization of cotton bolls, is produced by most A. flavus isolates, but its absence did not prevent colonization of
bean leaves. Proteases have been implicated in colonization of animal
hosts. All A. flavus strains produced very similar patterns
of protease isozymes when cultured on horse lung polymers. Quantitative
differences in protease levels did not correlate with the ability to
colonize insects. In contrast to A. flavus, strains of
A. nidulans and A. fumigatus could not invade
living insect or plant tissues or resist digestion by insect hemocytes.
Our results indicate that A. flavus has parasitic
attributes that are lacking in A. fumigatus and A. nidulans but that individual strains of A. flavus are
not specialized to particular hosts.
0099-2240/0/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Lack of Host Specialization in
Aspergillus flavus
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: University of
Maryland, 4112 Plant Science Building, College Park, MD 20742-4454. Phone: (301) 405-5402. Fax: (301) 314-9290. E-mail:
r1106{at}umailsrv0.umd.edu.
Applied and Environmental Microbiology, January 2000, p. 320-324, Vol. 66, No. 1
0099-2240/0/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
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