Figure 3.

FvSet1 is required for full virulence in F. verticillioides. (A) maize stalk infection assays. Maize stalks were injected with conidial suspensions of the wild-type (Strain 7600), the FvSET1 deletion mutant (ΔFvSet1), and the complementation strain (ΔFvSet1-C). Longitudinal dissections of infected maize stalks were photographed 15 days after inoculation; (B) lesion area of longitudinally dissected maize stalks infected with each strain for 15 days; (C) the wounded maize kernels were inoculated with conidial suspension of wild-type, ΔFvSet1, and ΔFvSet1-C. Infected maize kernels were photographed 15 days after inoculation; and (D) growth of the wild-type, ΔFvSet1, and ΔFvSet1-C strains on living maize kernels was evaluated by analysis of ergosterol biosynthesis. Values represent the mean ergosterol concentration in eight maize kernels sampled in triplicate from three separate ears for each strain. Line bars in each column denote standard errors of three repeated experiments.