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Occurrence of imazalil-resistant biotype of Penicillium digitatum in China and the resistant molecular mechanism

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Abstract

Green mold caused by Penicillium digitatum (Pers.:Fr) Sacc. is one of the most important postharvest diseases of citrus fruits. Experiments were conducted to determine the occurrence of resistance of P. digitatum to imazalil in China. Four imazalil-Resistant (R) isolates were identified from 189 isolates of P. digitatum. The highest EC50 of an imazalil-R isolate was 0.578 mg/L, 29 times higher than that of the most imazalil-sensitive (S) isolate, suggesting that imazalil-R biotype of P. digtatum had occurred in China. In vitro assessment indicated that the imazalil-R isolates were not significantly different from imazalil-S isolates in their growth rate and sporulation, indicating that the imazalil-R biotype has competence similar to that of imazalil-S one and could co-exist with it in environment. To determine the mechanism of the resistance, CYP51 gene was amplified from P. digitatum genome and sequenced. The results revealed that a tandem repeat of four extra copies of a unique 126-bp sequence in the upstream promoter region of CYP51 gene present only in imazalil-R isolates, but not in imazalil-S isolates, implying this tandem repeat sequence may regulate the expression of CYP51 positively, and lead to the sensitivity decrease.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Pesticide and Environmental Toxicology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310029, China

    Zhu Jin-wen

  2. Institute of Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310029, China

    Xie Qing-yun & Li Hong-ye

Authors
  1. Zhu Jin-wen
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  2. Xie Qing-yun
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  3. Li Hong-ye
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Correspondence to Li Hong-ye.

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Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 30070508 and 30571236) and the International Foundation for Science (No. E/2477-2), Sweden

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Zhu, Jw., Xie, Qy. & Li, Hy. Occurrence of imazalil-resistant biotype of Penicillium digitatum in China and the resistant molecular mechanism. J. Zhejiang Univ. - Sci. A 7 (Suppl 2), 362–365 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1631/jzus.2006.AS0362

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1631/jzus.2006.AS0362

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