Abstract:
In order to explo
re biodiversity of
Fusarium
species associated with the inflorescences
of gramineus weeds, heads and inflorescences were collected from wild grasses in west of
Iran.
Sixty samples, mostly from infected spikes were collected from different sites of
western
Iran. Nine species from 9 tribes of the Poaceae family were identified based on
pollen morphology using light microscopy and scanning electron microscope. Sixty
Fusarium
isolates were obtained from diseased spikes
and
identified into five species
F.
gramin
earum
(40%),
F. asiaticum
(20%),
F.
acuminatum
(20%),
F. equiseti
(10%), and
F.
proliferatum
(10%). The identification of the members of
F. Graminearum
Species
Complex (FGSC) was confirmed molecularly using Fg16F/Fg16R primers.
F. asiaticum
isolates were d
istinguished from other FGSC using Fg6CTPSf177/Fg16R primers. The
phylogenetic trees based on Translation Elongation Factor
-
1
α
(TEF
-
1α) dataset clearly
separated all morphological taxa.
PCR
-
based detection of mycotoxin
-
synthesis
-
pathway
gene was also used
to determine the potential to produce trichothecenes (DON and NIV)
.
Among 60 tested isolates, 16 isolates (27%) be
long
ed
to
DON chemotype and 10 isolates
(17%) were NIV chemotype. These results show that DON was the most common
chemotype in western Iran.
T
o our knowledge, this is the first report on molecular
identification of
Fusarium
species isolated from
poaceous
wild grasses
in Iran.
Keywords:
Fusarium
spp.
,
Iran
, Poaceous
wild grasses
,
TEF
-
1α
,
Trichothecenes.
