@article {KNZ00955, title = {Gibberella konza (Fusarium konzum) sp nov from prairie grasses, a new species in the Gibberella fujikuroi species complex}, journal = {Mycologia}, volume = {95}, year = {2004}, pages = {943 -954}, abstract = {The Gibberella fujikuroi species complex (Fusarium section Liseola and allied taxa) is composed of an increasingly large number of morphological, biological and phylogenetic species. Most of the known species in this group have been isolated from agricultural ecosystems or have been described from a small number of isolates. We sampled Fusarium communities from native prairie grasses in Kansas and recovered a large number of isolates that superficially resemble F. anthophilum. We used a combination of morphological, biological and molecular characters to describe a new species, Gibberella konza (Gibberella fujikuroi mating population I [MP-I]), from native prairie grasses in Kansas. Although female fertility for field isolates of this species appears to be low, G. konza is heterothallic, and we developed reliably female fertile mating population tester strains for this species. The F. konzum anamorph is differentiated from F. anthophilum and from other Fusarium species in section Liseola by mating compatibility, morphology, AFLP fingerprint profile and differences in β-tubulin DNA sequence.}, keywords = {LTER-KNZ, AFLP, biological species, DNA sequence, Fusarium anthophilum, mating population, β-tubulin}, url = {http://www.mycologia.org/content/95/5/943.short}, author = {Zeller, K.A. and Summerell, B.A. and Bullock, S. and Leslie, J.F.} } @article {KNZ00954, title = {Interfertility of two mating populations in the Gibberella fujikuroi species complex}, journal = {European Journal of Plant Pathology}, volume = {110}, year = {2004}, pages = {611 -618}, abstract = {Gibberella fujikuroi and Gibberella intermedia (mating populations {\textquoteleft}C{\textquoteright} and {\textquoteleft}D{\textquoteright} of the G. fujikuroi species complex) can be distinguished by differences in the spectrum of mycotoxins produced, the lack of sexual cross-fertility and diagnostic differences in their DNA sequences. Some isolates from these two biological species, however, can interbreed and complete meiosis to produce viable progeny. Analysis of marker segregation amongst such hybrid progeny can be used to estimate the degree of genomic rearrangement and genetic incompatibility that has accumulated since these sibling species diverged. Recombinant progeny were isolated from crosses of the standard tester strains for these two species and from crosses between these standard testers and a field isolate (KSU X-10626) that was cross-fertile with tester strains of both species. Progeny in all of the crosses segregated for amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs). Segregation of AFLP loci deviated from 1:1 for two thirds of the loci amongst the progeny of the cross between the {\textquoteleft}C{\textquoteright} and {\textquoteleft}D{\textquoteright} mating population tester strains, but <20\% of the polymorphic loci in the cross of either tester with KSU X-10626 showed such distortion. It was concluded that G. intermedia and G. fujikuroi are sufficiently interfertile to belong to the same biological species, but that changing the nomenclature to reflect this interfertility requires more evidence for the natural occurrence of a continuum in fertility than is presently available.}, keywords = {LTER-KNZ, AFLP, biological species, fumonisin, Fusarium fujikuroi, Fusarium proliferatum, Gibberella intermedia, interspecific hybrids, Konza Prairie, mating type, sexual crosses}, doi = {10.1007/978-1-4020-2285-2_15}, author = {Leslie, J.F. and Zeller, K.A. and Wohler, M. and Summerell, B.A.} }