Characterization of laboratory mutants of Venturia inaequalis resistant to the strobilurin-related fungicide kresoxim-methyl

Abstract

Several agricultural fungicides related to the antifungal strobilurins act as inhibitors of respiration by binding to mitochondrial cytochrome b. Two types of laboratory mutants resisting higher doses of the strobilurin-related inhibitor kresoxim-methyl were characterized for Venturia inaequalis, the causal agent of apple scab. Selection of mutagenized conidia by kresoxim-methyl yielded mutants altered in the expression of alternative respiration during the stage of conidia germination. Cytochrome b sequences were not affected in the respective mutants. Selection of conidia on media containing the alternative oxidase inhibitor salicylhydroxamic acid in addition to kresoxim-methyl yielded a highly resistant mutant distinguished by a G143A exchange in cytochrome b. The status of mitochondrial cytochrome b genes remained heteroplasmic, and mitochondria containing wild-type cytochrome b returned to high frequencies during cultivation on inhibitor-free medium. However, continuation of the selection process led to a more pronounced replacement of sensitive by mutated mitochondria. The G143A mutation of cytochrome b causing resistance of V. inaequalis to a strobilurin-related inhibitor has been reported previously for mouse mitochondria; and a permanent G143A exchange rendering naturally resistant mitochondria has been reported for the strobilurin-producing basidiomycete Mycena galopoda and for the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus. At the corresponding position, alanine was also present in chloroplast cytochrome b ₆ exhibiting low binding of strobilurin-related inhibitors. The mutation of cytochrome b reported here for V. inaequalis describes the first example of a mutation in filamentous ascomycetes and is part of an assessment of resistance risks inherent to strobilurin fungicides.