Abstract
Gibberella zeae (anamorph: Fusarium graminearum) is an important pathogen of cereal crops in many areas of the world. Infected grain with this fungus is often contaminated with mycotoxins. Phylogenetic trees of G. zeae isolates from maize and rice were constructed by using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP). AFLP showed polymorphic bands and the bands, haplotypic loci, were used to analyze genetic diversity of G. zeae population. Population structure of maize isolates consisted of four lineages. Lineage 7 was the major group followed by lineage 3, lineage 6, and lineage 2. On the other hand, the population structure of rice isolates consisted of only lineage 6. Maximum parsimony trees based on sequencing data from Tri101, Tri7 and MAT-1-1 genes were found to be concordant with AFLP data. Trichothecene production of maize isolates was variable; lineage 7 and 3 isolates were deoxynivalenol (DON) producers and most lineage 6 and 2 isolates were nivalenol (NIV) producers. All lineage 6 isolates from rice were mostly NIV producers with a few DON chemotypes. This result suggests that genetic variations exist in G. zeae population from maize and rice in Korea.
