Comparison of Fusarium acuminatum and Fusarium culmorum isolates by means of tandem-crossed immunoelectrophoresis.

F. acuminatum and F. culmorum strains were compared by means of tandem-crossed immunoelectrophoresis in order to estimate the possibilities of serological classification in Fusarium sections "Gibbosum" and "Discolor". On the basis of qualitative similarity the two species could be distinguished well. By the use of anti-F. acuminatum serum a similarity of SSM = 0.52 was found between F. acuminatum and F. culmorum, but the SSM coefficient reached a value of 0.67 when the anti-F. culmorum serum was tested. This asymmetric nature of the qualitative similarity is discussed. In the majority of cases the quantitative differences of the common antigens did not allow differentiation between the species.