1986 Volume 52 Issue 4 Pages 660-668
Thirty three isolates of four species of Ustilago, U. hordei, U. nuda, U. tritici and U. avenae, parasitic on barley, wheat and oats, respectively, were compared by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis on seven different enzymes extracted from sporidial or mycelial cells. The enzymes examined were esterase, peroxidase, leucine aminopeptidase, acid phosphatase, malate dehydrogenase, glutamate dehydrogenase and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase. The zymograms of the isolates belonging to the same species showed almost the same patterns. The number and position of bands of esterases, leucine aminopeptidases and malate dehydrogenases were similar between U. avenae and U. hordei, and the similarities of both fungi were about 70%. On the other hand, U. nuda and U. tritici showed different electrophoretic patterns on seven enzymes and their similarities were only about 10%. From the results obtained it may be inferred that U. avenae and U. hordei are closely akin, and that the taxonomical distinction of U. nuda and U. tritici as different species each other are reasonable.
