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. 1987 May;84(10):3081–3085. doi: 10.1073/pnas.84.10.3081

Phytotoxins from the pathogenic fungi Drechslera maydis and Drechslera sorghicola

F Sugawara *,†, G Strobel *, R N Strange *,‡, J N Siedow §, G D Van Duyne , J Clardy ¶,ǁ
PMCID: PMC304811  PMID: 16593832

Abstract

Drechslera maydis, the causal agent of Southern corn leaf blight, and Drechslera sorghicola, the causal agent of leaf spot on Johnson grass, produce a series of phytotoxic sesterterpenoids. These sesterterpenoids belong to the ophiobolin family. One of them, ophiobolin I, was characterized by x-ray diffraction and served as a crucial reference compound for characterizing four other ophiobolins. All of the ophiobolins studied produce characteristic lesions on host plants at concentrations of 1 mM to 1 μM. The ophiobolin characterized as 6-epiophiobolin A is selectively toxic to corn bearing Texas-male-sterile (Tms) cytoplasm when assayed in a dark CO2 fixation assay. It is plausible that these ophiobolins had a role in the 1970 corn-blight epidemic in North America.

Keywords: corn blight, fungal metabolites, plant disease, sesterterpenoids, ophiobolins

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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