Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis was used to identify karyotypes for eight species of the Fusarium sections Arthrosporiella and Sporotrichiella. The total number of chromosome-sized DNA molecules varied from six to nine, depending on the species. The sizes of chromosomes ranged from 0.4 to approximately 6.5 Mb which gave estimates of genome size of between 27.0 and 29.9 Mb. When fractionated chromosomes of the eight species were probed with Tox5, a gene coding for the key-enzyme of trichothecene biosynthesis, strong hybridization signals developed in F. poae and F. sporotrichioides, suggesting that of the eight species examined only these two have the genetic potentiality to produce trichothecene mycotoxins. By using heterologous probes from Aspergillus different rRNA loci have also been mapped on Fusarium chromosomes.

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Variations in trichothecene patterns of 26 Fusarium sporotrichioides isolates from different plant and geographic origins showed no correlation with electrophoretic karyotype polymorphisms. When intact chromosomes were examined, interisolate karyotype differences were observed only in the minichromosome range. Further polymorphisms were revealed in Nod-digested samples. By summing the Notl fragments the average genome size of F. sporotrichioides was estimated to be 204 Mb. Mini-chromosomes shared common sequences with the larger ones; however, clones (RMS-1 and RMS-2) specific to these structures have also been found. These clones contained no coding region and no promising similarities were observed when they were compared to sequences held at GenBank. Mini-chromosomes in F. sporotrichioides constitute a mosaic composed of dispersed repeats and unique sequences. This mosaic structure was maintained in all noninterbreeding, genetically isolated strains examined.