Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation of Fusarium circinatum

The development of a transformation system is a significant technical hurdle in the study of many filamentous fungi. Recently Agrobacterium tumefaciens was shown to transform several filamentous fungi, but until now only one independent confirmation of this promising finding has been published. Fusarium circinatum (teleomorph Gibberella circinata) is an important pathogen of pine that has not been transformed previously. A. tumefaciens strain AGL(1)(pPK2) transformed three different isolates of F. circinatum with an efficiency of 2-150 transformants 10(-5) conidia. The T-DNA was integrated into the genome and was stable through mitotic and meiotic cell divisions. Most F. circinatum transformants contained a single T-DNA copy. Half of the tested transformants also contained non-T-DNA vector sequences. These findings should facilitate future analysis of F. circinatum pathogenicity and stimulate wider use of this Valuable transformation method in fungal research.