Fusarium verticillioides from finger millet in Uganda

Abstract

Finger millet (Eleusine coracana) is a subsistence crop grown in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Sub-continent. Fusarium species occurring on this crop have not been reported. Approximately 13% of the Fusarium isolates recovered from finger millet growing at three different locations in eastern Uganda belong to Fusarium verticillioides, and could produce up to 18,600 µg/g of total fumonisins when cultured under laboratory conditions. These strains are all genetically unique, based on AFLP analyses, and form fertile perithecia when crossed with the standard mating type tester strains for this species. All but one of the strains is female-fertile and mating-type segregates 13:20 Mat-1:Mat-2. Three new sequences of the gene encoding translation elongation factor 1− α were found within the population. These results indicate a potential health risk for infants who consume finger millet gruel as a weaning food, and are consistent with the hypothesis that F. verticillioides originated in Africa and not in the Americas, despite its widespread association with maize grown almost anywhere worldwide.

Keywords:

• AFLPs
• Africa
• centre of origin
• Eleusine coracana
• fumonisins
• Fusarium moniliforme
• Fusarium verticillioides
• mycotoxins
• population genetics
• subsistence agriculture

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Bruce Ramundo and Amy Beyer for technical assistance. This research was supported in part by INTSORMIL, the International Sorghum, Millets and Other Grains Collaborative Research Support Program sponsored by The United States Agency for International Development; MYCORED, EU FP7 large Collaborative Project GA 222690-MYCORD; and the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station. Manuscript no. 12-224-J from the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station, Manhattan.

Notes

Deceased.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

J.P. Esele

Deceased.