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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Urbana, Illinois » Soybean/maize Germplasm, Pathology, and Genetics Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #236539
Title: Carbon utilization profiles of Fusarium virguliforme isolates

Author
item TANG, E - UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
item HILL, C - UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
item Hartman, Glen

Submitted to: Canadian Journal of Microbiology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/10/2010
Publication Date: 11/24/2010
Citation: Tang, E., Hill, C.B., Hartman, G.L. 2010. Carbon utilization profiles of Fusarium virguliforme isolates. Canadian Journal of Microbiology. 56:979-986.

Interpretive Summary: Fusarium virguliforme is the fungus that causes sudden death syndrome (SDS) in soybean. Physiological variability among isolates of the fungus is unknown. One way to measure physiologic variability is to analyze isolate use of carbon sources for growth. The carbon source utilization profiles of 18 F. virguliforme isolates were studied based on 95 different carbon sources. The utilization of dextrin, D-mannitol, maltotriose, D-lactic acid methyl ester, N-acetyl-D-galactosamine, salicin, D-trehalose, and L-alanine differed among isolates. Carbon sources were grouped into three clusters based on their ability to promote growth of F. virguliforme. About 12% of the carbon sources promoted a high amount of mycelial growth, 39% promoted a medium amount of growth, and 49% promoted a low amount of mycelial growth. This indicates that not all F. virguliforme are clones of each other. This information reported here may be useful to fungal ecologists, physiologists, and mycologists that study variability in microbes.

Technical Abstract: Fusarium virguliforme is the cause of sudden death syndrome (SDS) in soybean. Physiological variability among isolates of the fungus is unknown. One way to measure physiologic variability is to analyze their use of carbon sources for growth. The carbon source utilization profiles of 18 F. virguliforme isolates were studied using the Biolog FF 96-well microplate, which contains 95 different carbon sources. The utilization of dextrin, D-mannitol, maltotriose, D-lactic acid methyl ester, N-acetyl-D-galactosamine, salicin, D-trehalose, and L-alanine differed significantly among isolates (P = 0.5). Carbon sources were grouped into three clusters based on their ability to promote growth of F. virguliforme after calculating Euclidean distances among them. About 12% of the carbon sources promoted a high amount of mycelial growth, 39% promoted a medium amount of growth, and 49% promoted a low amount of mycelial growth, not significantly different from the water blank control. A hierarchical tree diagram was produced for the 18 isolates based on their carbon source utilization profiles using Ward’s hierarchical analysis method. Two main clusters of isolates were formed. One cluster represented greater mycelial growth than the other cluster. In this study, variability in carbon source utilization among F. virguliforme isolates was demonstrated.