Molecular Characterization of Fusarium proliferatum Causing Leaf Blight Symptoms on Chinese chive (Allium tuberosum) in Korea

In 2008, leaf blight symptoms were observed on several Chinese chive farms in Sangju. The Pathogenicity of the isolate was confirmed by artificial inoculation, where the pathogen exhibited a strong pathogenicity toward healthy plants. Morphological classification identified the isolate as from the Fusarium genus. For further analysis, PCR and phylogenetic classification were performed with ITS region and 28S rRNA gene which are commonly used for fungal identification. However, the results provided a poor resolution. To solve this problem, we analyzed translation elongation factor 1-alpha (TEF-$1{\alpha}$) gene. The analyzed results using TEF-$1{\alpha}$ gene indicated that the isolate was F. proliferatum. Therefore, it is assumed that TEF-$1{\alpha}$ gene is important when Fusarium sp. was identified using molecular classification method.