Utility of the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphisms of the intergenic spacer region of the rDNA for characterizing Gibberella fujikuroi isolates

In the present report, a total of thirty-one isolates of Gibberella fujikuroi (Sawada) Wollenw. species complex of Fusarium (section Liseola) morphologically classified as F. moniliforme according to the taxonomy of Nelson, Toussoun and Marasas (1983) were analyzed for their ability to produce fumonisin B₁ and fumonisin B₂ by an optimized liquid chromatographic method. They were isolated from three hosts (Zea mays, Musa sapientum and Pinus pinea). The results indicate that M. sapientum is a preferential host for G. fujikuroi isolates with low or null capacity for producing fumonisins, while isolates from Z. mays and P. pinea are generally high fumonisin producers.

The molecular characterization of isolates was carried out in parallel using an optimized, simple and low-cost method for isolating DNA from filamentous fungi and polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphisms (PCR-RFLP) of the rDNA intergenic spacer (IGS) region. The haplotypes obtained with Hha I enzyme and combinations of Hha I, EcoR I, Alu I, Pst I and Xho I enzymes provided very characteristic groupings of G. fujikuroi isolates as a function of host type and fumonisin B₁ and B₂ producing capacity. IGS region restriction patterns showed no relationship to isolate geographical origin. This is the first report on this method's capacity to detect polymorphism permitting discrimination between G. fujikuroi isolates from different hosts and with different toxigenic profiles.