Transformation of Pseudocercosporella herpotrichoides using two heterologous genes

Abstract

The plant pathogenic fungus Pseudocercosporella herpotrichoides has been successfully transformed using two positive selection systems, one based on the Escherichia coli hygromycin B phosphotransferase gene (hph) and the other on the Neurospora crassa β-tubulin gene bml which encodes resistance to the methyl benzimidazole carbamate fungicides. Both selection systems gave a transformation frequency of 1–20 transformants μg−1 DNA. The vector DNA was integrated into the genome and the number and sites of integration varied among the transformants. The hph transformants were mitotically stable and the transformed gene was transmitted through spores. In contrast the bml transformants were less stable.