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Anti-tubulin Agents

  • Chapter
Fungicide Resistance in Plant Pathogens

Abstract

Commercial anti-tubulin fungicides belong to three structural classes: benzimidazoles, N-phenylcarbamates, and benzamides. These compounds inhibit microtubule assembly by binding to β-tubulin. Benzimidazoles are used primarily to control ascomycete pathogens and have encountered serious resistance problems and loss of efficacy in the field. The N-phenylcarbamate diethofencarb displays negatively correlated cross-resistance to benzimidazoles and was introduced to control benzimidazole-resistant strains of Botrytis and other fungi. However, this strategy led to selection of strains resistant to both chemistries. Resistance to benzimidazoles and N-phenylcarbamates in lab or field mutants is due primarily to mutations in β-tubulin, and positive or negative cross-resistance between these classes of compound is frequently observed depending on the particular mutation and compounds. The benzamide class of fungicides, which includes zoxamide and ethaboxam, is only used commercially to control oomycete diseases, and there are no reports to date of resistance in the field. Cross-resistance between the benzamide zoxamide, benzimidazoles, and diethofencarb in β-tubulin mutants from Ascomycetes and competitive binding assay data show that all three structural classes bind to the “colchicine” site on β-tubulin, a region targeted also by many experimental anticancer and herbicidal compounds. Recent structural studies of β-tubulin are providing new insights into binding of anti-tubulin fungicides and resistance mechanisms.

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  1. Dow AgroSciences LLC, 9330 Zionsville Road, Bldg. 306, Indianapolis, IN, 46268, USA

    David H. Young

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Correspondence to David H. Young .

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  1. Kibi International University, Minami-Awaji, Hyogo, Japan

    Hideo Ishii

  2. Bristol, United Kingdom

    Derek William Hollomon

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Young, D.H. (2015). Anti-tubulin Agents. In: Ishii, H., Hollomon, D. (eds) Fungicide Resistance in Plant Pathogens. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-55642-8_7

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