Abstract
Fusarium wilt, caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. vasinfectum (Fov), is an economically important disease of cultivated cottons (Gossypium hirsutum and G. barbadense). Recently, Fov race 4 has spread among soils planted to cotton in the San Joaquin Valley of California causing significant losses. Because Fov 4 is seedborne and persists in infested soils, it is a potential threat to all US cotton production regions. Tests have been developed to rapidly identify race 4 in the laboratory and the field, including a race 4 specific PCR and a test kit for use with fungal mycelium and infected plant tissue. Currently, the test kit is the only available method to identify race 4 in the field. Both the PCR and kit tests were evaluated on a panel of 36 Fov isolates that represented all described races and many genotypes from several geographic regions. As expected, race 4 isolates gave positive reactions, as did race 7 isolates. One race 7 isolate was not vegetatively compatible with the race 4 isolates, while the other isolate of race 7 exhibited a compatible reaction. Isolates of race 7 and race 4 have identical partial sequences in three nuclear genes. In addition, the type isolate of race 3 gave a positive reaction. All other isolates, including the highly-virulent Australian isolates, were negative. The diagnostic tests clearly distinguished race 4 from races 1, 2, 6, and 8 but not from the race 3 and race 7 isolates tested here. Race 3 and 7 are similar in etiology to that of race 4, thus a method is needed to distinguish these in the field.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Cotton Incorporated for their generous support of this research and Dr. Kathy S. Lawrence, Auburn University, for providing fungal isolates with KL designation.
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Crutcher, F.K., Doan, H.K., Bell, A.A. et al. Evaluation of methods to detect the cotton wilt pathogen Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. vasinfectum race 4. Eur J Plant Pathol 144, 225–230 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10658-015-0763-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10658-015-0763-z
Keywords
- Fusarium oxysporum
- vasinfectum
- Cotton
- Race 4
- Detection