Molecular variability of a population of Fusarium poae, main contaminant of wheat in Northern Italy

ANTONIO MORETTI, STEFANIA SOMMA, CORA ALVAREZ Y ANTONELLA SUSCA

Wageningen, The Netherlands

Simposio; European Fusarium Seminar; 2006

European Fusarium Seminar

Fusarium head blight is caused by a complex of Fusarium species some of which produce harmfulmetabolites for plant, human and animal. Among these species, F. poae is a most occurringspecies in Italy in both South and Northern areas, often characterized by dramatically differentmeteorological conditions. A survey of wheat fields in Ferrara area at the pre-harvest of lastseason, led to the collection of 40 ear samples of wheat each representing a single field. Thekernels were analyzed for the main occurring Fusarium species and resulted highly contaminatedpredominantly by F. poae (from 1% to 34% of contaminated kernels), a toxigenic species able toproduce several trichothecenes, which are potent inhibitors of protein synthesis. Around 100strains of F. poae were isolated and morphologically identified, showing a high level of variability.Molecular studies were carried out in order to confirm such variability by using DNA analysis: AFLP and ß-tubulin and elongation factor loci sequencing were performed confirming a high level of variability within this species. Studies to relate this variability to other traits such as toxinproduction or pathogenicity are in progress.