Abstract
Ergosterol content in the plant pathogenic fungusBipolaris sorokiniana was determined in different matrices including mycelium, spores, culture filtrate and infected barley leaves. Ergosterol was extracted with methanol, hydrolysed with KOH and quantified by reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Our procedure was used to study how the ergosterol concentration ofB. sorokiniana varied due to fungal age and nutrient availability when growing in liquid medium. It was found that the ergosterol content decreased with fungal age. The decrease was not due to leakage. It was also found that a change to a less nutrient-rich medium caused an increase in ergosterol content whereas a change to a rich medium led to a decrease. The procedure was also used for quantification of fungal infections in complex matrices (e.g. leaves). The development of fungal infection in barley leaves was followed during 10 days. Visual grading of leaf spots was also compared to ergosterol content in three varieties of barley. The ergosterol content in the leaves increased exponentially until day 7, and the grading of the leaf spots was correlated to the ergosterol content. Our results show that, despite a great variation, ergosterol may be used as a biomarker to detect and quantify fungal infections in a given matrix.
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Gunnarsson, T., Almgren, I., Lydén, P. et al. The use of ergosterol in the pathogenic fungusBipolaris sorokiniana for resistance rating of barley cultivars. Eur J Plant Pathol 102, 883–889 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01877059
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01877059