Colletotrichum sublineolum genetic instability assessed by mutants resistant to chlorate

The fungus Colletotrichum sublineolum, causal agent of sorghum anthracnose, presents high variability, genetic instability and host specialization. The aims of the present work were to investigate the mechanisms involved in the genetic instability in this species. Mutants resistant to chlorate and unable to use nitrate (Nit mutants), were obtained spontaneously, isolated and characterized for complementation pattern, reversion frequency and RAPD profile. The results showed that chlorate-resistant mutants could be divided into six phenotypic classes that probably represented mutations in the structural nitrate reductase locus (nit1), in the structural nitrite reductase locus (nit6 and niiA of Neurospora and Aspergillus, respectively), in the specific regulator locus (nit3), in the main regulator locus (nit2), in loci that codified the cofactor containing molybdenum necessary for nitrate reductase activity (NitM), and one or more genes responsible for nitrate intake (crn). In addition, the genetic control of this metabolism in C. sublineolum seems to be similar to other fungi species such as Aspergillus, Neurospora and Fusarium. The high reversion frequency (10−4 to 10−5) presented by nit1 mutants suggests that the instability in evaluated strains could be a result of transposable elements activity. The RAPD analysis enabled confirmation that the Nit mutants have a similar genetic background to original strain, and that polymorphism exists among wild-type strains, nit1 mutants and revertants of C. sublineolum. These are important aspects for the later direction of molecular analysis, where these mutants will be used as a tool to isolate the active transposable elements in the C. sublineolum genome.