Abstract
Control of Helminthosporium solani, the cause of silver scurf in potato tubers, has been impaired by selection of benzimidazole-resistant strains as a result of repeated use of the fungicide thiabendazole. Identification of thiabendazole-resistant strains of H. solani by conventional techniques takes several weeks. Primers designed from conserved regions of the fungal beta-tubulin gene were used to PCR amplify and sequence a portion of the gene. A point mutation was detected at codon 198 in thiabendazole-resistant isolates causing a change in the amino acid sequence from glutamic acid to alanine or glutamine. Species-specific PCR primers designed to amplify this region were used in conjunction with a restriction endonuclease to cause cleavage in sensitive isolates only and thus provide a rapid diagnostic test to differentiate field isolates.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 371-8 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | FEMS Microbiology Letters |
| Volume | 152 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Publication status | Published - 15 Jul 1997 |
Keywords
- Amino Acid Sequence
- Base Sequence
- Benzimidazoles
- DNA Mutational Analysis
- DNA, Fungal
- Drug Resistance, Microbial
- Fungicides, Industrial
- Genes, Fungal
- Helminthosporium
- Molecular Sequence Data
- Point Mutation
- Polymerase Chain Reaction
- Sensitivity and Specificity
- Tubulin