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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, April 2004, p. 2437-2444, Vol. 70, No. 4
0099-2240/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.70.4.2437-2444.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Deletion and Complementation of the Mating Type (MAT) Locus of the Wheat Head Blight Pathogen Gibberella zeae

A. E. Desjardins,^1* D. W. Brown,^1, S.-H. Yun,^2,, R. H. Proctor,^1, T. Lee,^2, R. D. Plattner,¹ S.-W. Lu,² and B. G. Turgeon²

National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Peoria, Illinois 61604,¹ Department of Plant Pathology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853²

Received 7 July 2003/ Accepted 30 December 2003

Gibberella zeae, a self-fertile, haploid filamentous ascomycete, causes serious epidemics of wheat (Triticum aestivum) head blight worldwide and contaminates grain with trichothecene mycotoxins. Anecdotal evidence dating back to the late 19th century indicates that G. zeae ascospores (sexual spores) are a more important inoculum source than are macroconidia (asexual spores), although the fungus can produce both during wheat head blight epidemics. To develop fungal strains to test this hypothesis, the entire mating type (MAT1) locus was deleted from a self-fertile (MAT1-1/MAT1-2), virulent, trichothecene-producing wild-type strain of G. zeae. The resulting MAT deletion (mat1-1/mat1-2) strains were unable to produce perithecia or ascospores and appeared to be unable to mate with the fertile strain from which they were derived. Complementation of a MAT deletion strain by transformation with a copy of the entire MAT locus resulted in recovery of production of perithecia and ascospores. MAT deletion strains and MAT-complemented strains retained the ability to produce macroconidia that could cause head blight, as assessed by direct injection into wheat heads in greenhouse tests. Availability of MAT-null and MAT-complemented strains provides a means to determine the importance of ascospores in the biology of G. zeae and perhaps to identify novel approaches to control wheat head blight.

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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1815 N. University St., Peoria, IL 61604. Phone: (309) 681-6378. Fax: (309) 681-6665. E-mail: desjarae{at}ncaur.usda.gov.

D.W.B., S-H.Y., and R.H.P. contributed equally to this study.

Present address: Division of Life Sciences, Soonchunhyang University, Asan, Choongnam 336-745, Korea.

Present address: National Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology, Rural Development Administration, Suwon, Korea.

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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, April 2004, p. 2437-2444, Vol. 70, No. 4
0099-2240/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.70.4.2437-2444.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

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