Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Cutinase of Fusarium solani F. sp. pisi: mechanism of induction and relatedness to other Fusarium species

Thesis/Dissertation ·
OSTI ID:5622280
Three studies were made on the extracellular cutinase of the phytopathogenic fungus Fusarium solani f. sp. pisi. I. The production of cutinase was found to be induced in spores of F. solani f. sp. pisi, strain T-8, by cutin and cutin hydrolysate. Fractionation and analysis of the cutin hydrolysate indicated that dihydroxy-C/sub 16/ acid and trihydroxy-C/sub 18/ acid were the cutin monomers most active for inducing cutinase. Measurement of cutinase-specific RNA levels by dot-blot hybridization with a (/sup 32/P)-labeled cutinase cDNA showed that the cutinase gene transcripts could be detected within 15 min after addition of the inducers. The results indicated that the fungal spores have the capacity to recognize the unique monomer components of the plant cuticle and rapidly respond by the synthesis of cutinase. II. Analysis of the genomic DNA's of seven strains of F. solani f. sp. pisi indicated that both high and low cutinase-producing strains contain at least one copy of the cutinase structural gene and a homologous promoter region. The data suggest a different promoter sequence exists in these additional copies. III. Relatedness of five phytopathogenic Fusarium species to F. solani f. sp. pisi was determined by their cutinase antigenic properties and gene homologies of cutinase cDNA from F. solani f. sp. pisi. The results suggest that formae specialis of F. solani are phylogenetically identical and that F. solani is quite distinct from the other Fusarium species tested.
Research Organization:
Washington State Univ., Pullman (USA)
OSTI ID:
5622280
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English