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  • Sexual reproduction paramet...
    Gomes, André Angelo Medeiros; de Melo, Maruzanete Pereira; Tessmann, Dauri José; Lima, Cristiano Souza

    European journal of plant pathology, 2020/1, Volume: 156, Issue: 1
    Journal Article

    Fusarium verticillioides is an important plant pathogen causing infections on ears and/or stalks of maize. This study aimed to compare sexual reproduction parameters in populations of F. verticillioides from distinct regions in the different Brazilian climatic zones where maize is grown. Fertility and effective population size were calculated from data generated by crossing field isolates with female fertile testers. Three hundred fungi isolates were obtained from maize kernels with Fusarium ear rot symptoms in different geographic regions of Brazil in the years 2012 and 2013. For the entire population, 231 out of 300 isolates were cross-fertile with tester isolates. MAT1–1 and MAT1–2 idiomorphs of the fertile isolates segregated in a 105:126 ratio. Female isolates (hermaphrodites) accounted for 96 out of 231 fertile isolates, while 135 were male-only isolates. The ratio of mating types within the population N e ( mt ) was 99% of the count for the Brazilian population when the mating type idiomorphs were used as predictors to estimate the population size. However, when this calculation was made on the basis of the female fertile isolates, the N e ( f ) was 83%. When the total population was divided by geographical/climatic regions, the frequencies of female fertile isolates were 33 out of 80 fertile isolates from the Northeast (equatorial tropical climate); 49 out of 73 fertile isolates from the Central-West (tropical climate); and only 14 out of 78 fertile isolates from the South (temperate climate), indicating that the sexual reproduction in F. verticillioides is likely favored by a tropical climate in Brazil. Brazilian populations of F. verticillioides show high fertility and high effective population size, suggesting the possibility of frequent sexual reproduction in the field, especially in populations from Tropical Climate regions of Brazil.