Purification and characterization of a novel toxin from Bipolaris sorokiniana, causing spot blotch of wheat and analysis of variability in the pathogen

Bipolaris sorokiniana, causal agent of spot blotch of wheat is a hemibiotrophic pathogen. This fungus produced a toxin in culture that induced necrosis not only in wheat but also in barley, sorghum and some weeds. The toxic compound purified by prep TLC from culture filtrate of virulent strain BS-75, characterized using NMR and GC-MS techniques, was identified to be ‘Bipolaroxin’, which is a first report of its production by B. sorokiniana infecting wheat. It is a bicyclical sesquiterpene belonging to family Eremophilane. Besides producing necrotic lesions on wheat, toxin (30 ng/ml) caused necrotic lesions on barley, maize, sorghum, Phalaris minor, Avena sativa and Cynodon dactylon as studied using leaf infiltration bioassay. Qualitative and quantitative differences among the pathogenically variable isolates were observed with respect to toxin production by TLC and HPLC. Different isolates produced bipolaroxin in the range of 0.05 µg/ml (BS-41) to 1.4 µg/ml (BS-75).