Population Structure of the Fusarium Graminearum Species Complex from a Single Japanese Wheat Field Sampled in Two Consecutive Years

In this study we characterized Fusarium graminearum complex species (Fg complex) strains collected from Kyushu region, Japan within two successive years. Fusarium head blight (FHB) pathogen populations from seed that was harvested from Fukuoka and Nagasaki Prefectures were isolated before planting in a 500-m2 field in Kumamoto prefecture, we named the populations based on the year they were planted: Fukuoka population (02WSC) and Nagasaki population (03WSC) “WSC” stands for wheat seed. The harvested pathogen population from the heads were divided into two categories depending on the year of harvest; 2003(03W) and 2004(04W) group,“W” refers to wheat head. The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between seed and head pathogen populations based on VNTR haplotype data.