Figure 1. FIGURE 1: Comparison of five Aureobasidium species with respect to growth on agar plates and antagonistic activity.

The different Aureobasidium species grow at comparable rates in spot assays, but show differences in antagonistic activity against the plant pathogenic fungus F. oxysporum NRRL 26381/CL57. Overnight cultures of the five strains were diluted to OD₆₀₀=0.1 and three serial 1:10 dilutions were spotted on PDB agar (left). Competition assays were performed with highly diluted Aureobasidium samples (OD₆₀₀ = 0.001) and the area of F. oxysporum growth was measured to reveal the differences in their antagonistic activity. The relative growth of F. oxysporum was reduced in competition with both A. pullulans strains (NBB 7.2.1 and EXF-150), while the other Aureobasidium species were less antagonistic.