Heritability of fumonisin B1 production in Gibberella fujikuroi mating population A.

Fumonisins are mycotoxins produced by strains belonging to several different mating populations of Gibberella fujikuroi (anamorphs, Fusarium section Liseola), a major pathogen of maize and sorghum worldwide. We studied the heritability of fumonisin production in mating population A by crossing fumonisin-producing strains collected from maize and sorghum in the United States with fumonisin-nonproducing strains collected from maize in Nepal. Random ascospore and tetrad progeny from three of these crosses were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and high-performance liquid chromatography for their ability to produce fumonisins on autoclaved cracked maize. In all three crosses, the ability to produce fumonisins, predominately fumonisin B1, segregated as a single gene or group of closely linked genes. Intercrosses between appropriate progeny and parents were poorly fertile, so we could not determine if the apparent single genes that were segregating in each of these crosses were allelic with one another. Mating type and spore-killer traits were scored in some crosses, and each segregated, as expected, as a single gene that was unlinked to the ability to produce fumonisins. We conclude that G. fujikuroi mating population A provides a powerful genetic system for the study of this important fungal toxin.