Characteristics, Stability and Reisolation of nit Mutant of Fusarium oxysporum from Strawberry

딸기로부터 분리된 Fusarium oxysporum nit 변이주의 특성과 안정성 및 재분리

This study was conducted to investigate the potential of nitrate-nonutilizing mutants (nit mutants) in ecological studies of Fusarium disease of strawberry. Nit mutants of Fusarium oxysporum from strawberry were easily formed on chlorate-containing media. Nit mutants were assigned to three phenotypic classes, nit1, nit3, and NitM, on the basis of their growth on media containing one of the following five different nitrogen sources ; nitrate, nitrite, hypoxanthine, ammonium and uric acid. Frequency of nit mutation and proportion of three phenotypes of nit mutants depended on the isolate. Mutation rate was 45.6% and ranged from 15.0% to 95.0%. The frequency of nit1 mutants was higher than that of nit3 or NitM. The complementary reaction between nit1 and NitM was higher than that of other combination. There has been no complementary response observed between nit3 and nit3. The nit mutants showed similar growth pattern as the that of wild type isolate on potato sucrose agar and potato sucrose liquid media. Most of the mutants retained pathogenicity, and maintained their phenotypes even after two year preservation through subculture on slanted PSA at room temperature. Nit mutants were selctively isolated from infested soil and infected plants on the selective medium (MMCPA) containing potassium chlorate with their original phenotypes, while naturally occurring isolates of Fusarium oxysporum were not grow on the medium. On the contrary, nit mutants showed very slight growth on the medium (MMPA) containing nitrate as a sole nitrogen source, and therefore could be distinguished from wild type isolate.