Phenotypic Analysis of Alternaria alternata, the Causal Agent of Tobacco Brown Spot

Research Article
Phenotypic Analysis of Alternaria alternata, the Causal Agent of Tobacco Brown Spot

Hancheng Wang, Yanfei Huang, Haiqian Xia, Jin Wang, Maosheng Wang, Changqing Zhang and Hongxue Lu

Plant Pathology Journal, 2015, 14(2), 79-85.

Abstract

Tobacco brown spot caused by Alternaria alternata is a devastating disease of tobacco worldwide. Phenotypic characterization of the pathogen was investigated to provide some basic information for biology and pathology by using BIOLOG Phenotype Microarray (PM). Using PM plates 1-10, 950 different growth conditions were tested. Results exhibited that the pathogen was able to metabolize 24.74% of tested carbon sources, 85.26% of nitrogen sources, 97.14% of sulfur sources and 89.83% of phosphorus sources. Most informative utilization patterns for carbon sources of A. alternata were carbohydrates and for nitrogen were various amino acids. The pathogen presented 274 different nitrogen pathways. It had wide range adaptabilities in osmolytes with up to 10% sodium chloride, up to 6% potassium chloride, up to 5% sodium sulfate, up to 20% ethylene glycol, up to 6% sodium formate, up to 6% urea, up to 12% sodium lactate, up to 200 mM sodium phosphate, up to 100 mM ammonium sulfate, up to 100 mM sodium nitrate and up to 20 mM sodium nitrite. It also exhibited active metabolism in the range of pH values between 3.5 and 10, with optimal pH of around 6.0. The pathogen showed active decarboxylase activity, whereas no deaminase activity in the presence of various amino acids.

ASCI-ID: 43-424

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