Figure 2. Phenotypic analyses of abaA deletion mutants.

(A) Mycelial growth of F. graminearum strains on complete media (CM). Pictures were taken 5 days after inoculation on CM. (B) Perithecium formation of F. graminearum strains on carrot agar. Pictures were taken 7 days after sexual induction from carrot agar. Scale bar = 500 µm. (C) Asci rosettes of F. graminearum strains. Imaging was performed 7 days after sexual induction. (D) Virulence on wheat heads. A center spikelet of each wheat head was injected with 10 µl of a conidium suspension. Pictures were taken 21 days after inoculation. Values with different letters are significantly different (p<0.05) based on Tukey's test. Scale bar = 20 µm. WT, F. graminearum wild-type strain Z-3639; ΔabaA, abaA deletion mutant; AbaA-OE, transgenic strain with the abaA promoter replaced with the ef1α promoter.