Evaluation of Fusarium head blight in barley infected by Fusarium graminearum.

Fusarium head blight, which is primarily caused by Fusarium graminearum, is a devastating disease in the barley field. A real-time PCR protocol was developed to evaluate the growth of this pathogen in the host plant tissues. All four strains harbored the gene encoding ATP-BINDING CASSETTE TRANSPORTER (FgABC; FGSG_00541) as a single copy within their genomes. Our Southern blot result was identical with the genomic data for F. graminearum strain PH-1. Based on the crossing point (CP) values obtained in our TaqMan real-time PCR analysis, two standard curves describing the relationship among the CP value, FgABC copy number, and amount of fungal DNA were constructed. Chronological enumeration of fungal growth was coincided with the symptom development.