Determining the Virulence of Corn Pathogen Fusarium verticillioides Utilizing Deletion Mutants Lacking Genes FV₀0027 or FVNPS6

Fusarium verticillioides is an important fungal pathogen of com. Many pathogens have virulent genes which are genes that increase infectivity of the pathogen. After a bioinformatics study, it was determined that genes Fv _ 00027 and Fv _ NPS6 are potential virulent genes in F. verticillioides. To determine if either gene ·contributes to the virulence of the fungus, deletion mutants of F. verticillioides were created lacking either Fv _ 00027 or Fv _ NPS6 genes. These deletion mutants were utilized in an optimized com assay to determine the effect of infectivity on com. To test these deletion mutants, com seeds infected with F. verticillioides were grown on germination paper and harvested. The assay included both negative (no fungus) and positive (wild type F. verticillioides) controls. The seedling weights and shoot weights were collected for each treatment and a computer program was used for the statistical analysis.