Abstract
The interaction between Cochliobolus carbonum and maize is mediated by a cyclic tetrapeptide known as HC-toxin. Isolates of the fungus that produce HC-toxin (called, by definition, race 1) show exceptional virulence on varieties of maize that are homozygous recessive at the nuclear Hm locus. In C. carbonum, production of HC-toxin, and hence virulence on maize of genotype hm/hm, is controlled by a single Mendelian genetic locus called TOX2. We have purified and characterized two enzymes that are involved in the synthesis of HC-toxin. Both enzyme activities are found only in isolates of the fungus that make HC-toxin and genetically co-segregate with TOX2. The gene encoding one of the enzymes was cloned. This gene is part of a 22-kb contiguous region of DNA that is found only in isolates of the fungus that make HC-toxin. Analysis of this region by cDNA mapping and sequencing has shown that it contains three genes, one of which constitutes a 15.7 kb open reading frame encoding a 570 kDa tetrapartite cyclic peptide synthetase.
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© 1993 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Walton, J.D. (1993). Molecular Basis of Specificity in Maize Leaf Spot Disease. In: Nester, E.W., Verma, D.P.S. (eds) Advances in Molecular Genetics of Plant-Microbe Interactions, Vol. 2. Current Plant Science and Biotechnology in Agriculture, vol 14. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0651-3_34
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0651-3_34
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