MOLECULAR IDENTIFICATION OF FUSARIUM SPECIES IN GIBBERELLA FUJIKUROI SPECIES COMPLEX FROM RICE, SUGARCANE AND MAIZE FROM PENINSULAR MALAYSIA

ZAKARIA, L. (1), Hsuan, H. M. (1), Salleh, B. (1)

(1) School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia

Lightning Talk, Fungi 2, Napier 209, Friday, 15:25 to 15:30
Poster Location: A11

The objective of this study was to identify and characterize Fusarium species in the Gibberella fujikuroi species complex from rice, sugarcane and maize as most of the Fusarium species from G. fujikuroispecies complex were found on the three crops. Isolates used were collected from the field and obtained from culture collection. The Fusarium isolates were initially identified based on morphology and identifications confirmed based on DNA sequence of the gene encoding translation elongation factor 1-α (TEF-1α). Five species were identified namely, F. sacchari, F. fujikuroi, F. proliferatum, F. andiyazi and F. verticillioides. This report is the first of F. andiyazi from rice in Southeast Asia. The phylogenetic trees generated by using neighbour joining and maximum parsimony methods showed similar grouping of isolates in which isolates from the same species were grouped in the same clade. The present study indicated that Fusarium species in the G. fujikuroi species complex are widespread in rice, sugarcane and maize. The findings also suggest that the use of morphological characters for identification of Fusarium species from the three crops will lead to misidentification as many isolates in the culture collection may be misidentified.

Keywords: Fungi, Disease Vectors/Pathogens/Parasites, Data Analysis