Population structure of and mycotoxin production by Fusarium graminearum from maize in South Korea

Fusarium graminearum (Gibberella zeae) is an important pathogen of wheat, maize, barley, and rice in South Korea, and harvested grain often is contaminated with trichothecenes such as deoxynivalenol and nivalenol. In this study, we examined 568 isolates of F. graminearum collected from maize at eight locations in South Korea. We used amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs) to identify four lineages (2, 3, 6, and 7); lineage 7 was the most common (75%), followed by lineage 6 (12%), lineage 3 (12%), and lineage 2 (1%). The genetic identity among populations was high (>0.98), and the effective migration rate between locations was higher than that between lineages. Female fertility varied by lineage: all lineage 7 isolates were fertile, while 70%, 26%, and 14% of the isolates in lineages 6, 3, and 2, respectively, were fertile. All lineage 3 and lineage 7 isolates produced deoxynivalenol, whereas most lineage 2 and 6 isolates produced nivalenol. Genotypic diversity in lineage 3 and lineage 6 populations is similar to that found in previously described Korean rice populations, but genotypic diversity in lineage 7 is much lower, even though similar levels of gene flow occur between lineage 7 populations. We conclude that lineage 7 was relatively recently introduced into South Korea, perhaps accompanying imported maize seeds.