Identification of toxigenic Fusarium species using PCR assays

Isolates of the toxigenic cereal pathogens Fusarium culmorum, Fusarium gram inearum, Fusarium crookwellense ann Fusarium avenaceum, from Poland (48 iso lates) and 12 from England, New Zealand, Italy and Canada, were examined us ing random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD)-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) , sequence-characterized amplified regions (SCARs), morphology and mycotoxi n production under laboratory conditions. Their DNA products were compared by RAPD-PCR, which showed species-specific bands and the greatest diversity among isolates of F. avenaceum. PCR using three 20-mer-primer-pairs that a re reported to be useful for identification of F. culmorum and F. graminear um group 2 confirmed their species-specificity. The same species-specific P CR product was observed in isolates of both nivalenol and deoxynivalenol ch emotypes of F. culmorum or F. graminearum. A clear relationship was found b etween morphological and species-specific PCR identification of F. culmorum and F. graminearum isolates. However, F. avenaceum can be confused when us ing primers FA-ITS F/R (SCAR 2-14) with Fusarium tricinctum because the sam e band 272 bp appears in the gel, in both species probes.