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Isolation and characterization of nonpathogenic Fusarium oxysporum isolates from the rhizosphere of healthy banana plants
Author(s) -
Nel B.,
Steinberg C.,
Labuschagne N.,
Viljoen A.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
plant pathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.928
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1365-3059
pISSN - 0032-0862
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3059.2006.01343.x
Subject(s) - biology , fusarium oxysporum , rhizosphere , fusarium wilt , restriction fragment length polymorphism , fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense , intergenic region , genotype , microbiology and biotechnology , fusarium , ribosomal rna , ribosomal dna , veterinary medicine , botany , gene , phylogenetics , bacteria , genome , genetics , medicine
One of the most serious diseases of banana is fusarium wilt, caused by Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense ( Foc ). The objectives of this study were to isolate and identify nonpathogenic F. oxysporum strains from soils suppressive to banana wilt, and to determine the diversity of these isolates. More than 100 Fusarium strains were isolated from the rhizosphere of banana plants and identified to species level. Pathogenicity testing was carried out to confirm that these isolates were nonpathogens of banana. A PCR‐based RFLP analysis of the intergenic spacer region of the ribosomal RNA operon was used to characterize the nonpathogens. The isolates were also compared with isolates of Foc from South Africa and the known biological control isolate of F. oxysporum , Fo47. The species‐specific primers FOF1 and FOR1, in addition to morphological features, were used to confirm the identity of F. oxysporum isolates included in the PCR‐RFLP analysis. Twelve different genotypes could be distinguished, identified by a six‐letter code allocated to each isolate following digestion with the restriction enzymes Hae III, Hha I, Hin fI, Msp I, Rsa I and Scrf I. Eleven of these included nonpathogenic F. oxysporum isolates, and these groups could all be distinguished from the genotype that included Foc . Fo47 was included in one of the genotype groups consisting of nonpathogenic F. oxysporum isolates from South Africa.