Free Standard AU & NZ Shipping For All Book Orders Over $80!
Register      Login
Crop and Pasture Science Crop and Pasture Science Society
Plant sciences, sustainable farming systems and food quality
Shopping Cart: ( empty )
You are here: Home > Journals > CP > AR05334
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 57(9)

Alkaloid production by isolates of the sorghum ergot pathogen (Claviceps africana) from Australia and other countries

Barry Blaney A C , Sukumar Chakraborty B and Sally-Ann Murray A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, Locked Mail Bag No. 4, Moorooka, Qld 4105, Australia.

B CSIRO Plant Industry, Queensland Bioscience Precinct, 306 Carmody Road, St Lucia, Qld 4067, Australia.

C Corresponding author. Email: Barry.Blaney@dpi.qld.gov.au

Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 57(9) 1023-1028 https://doi.org/10.1071/AR05334
Submitted: 21 September 2005  Accepted: 1 May 2006   Published: 30 August 2006

Abstract

Isolates of Claviceps africana from Australia, Africa, Asia, and America were tested for the production of dihydroergosine (DHES), and its biogenic precursors dihydroelymoclavine (DHEL) and festuclavine (FEST), in culture. Several growth media were evaluated to optimise alkaloid production with little success. The best of these involved 2-stage culturing on high-sucrose substrate. Australian C. africana isolates varied widely and inconsistently in alkaloid production, with DHES concentrations in mycelium ranging from: <0.1 to 9 mg DHES/kg; <0.1 to 1.6 mg DHEL/kg; and <0.1 to 0.4 mg FEST/kg. In a separate experiment using similar culturing techniques, DHES was produced by 2 of 3 Australian isolates, 1 of 3 USA isolates, 1 of 4 Indian isolates, the sole Puerto Rican isolate, the sole Japanese isolate, but not the sole South African isolate. In this experiment, DHES concentrations detected in mycelium of Australian isolates (0.1–1.0 mg DHES/kg) were of similar magnitude to isolates from other countries (0.2–1.8 mg DHES/kg). Three C. africana isolates, including one that produced only traces of alkaloid in culture after 8 weeks, were inoculated onto panicles of sterile male sorghum plants. After 8 weeks, all 3 isolates produced 10–19 mg DHES/kg in the panicles, demonstrating that the growing plant favoured more consistent alkaloid production than culture medium.

Additional keywords: mycotoxin, fungus, sclerotium, sphacelium.


Acknowledgments

The work was funded in part by the Grains Research and Development Corporation. We deeply appreciate the expert technical assistance of Mr Ross Perrott and Mr Leonard Ford. Dr Paul Tooley, Dr Ranajit Bandyopadhyay, and Dr Birte Komolong provided cultures, for which we are also grateful.


References


Amici AM, Minghetti A, Scotti T, Spalla C, Tognoli L (1967) Ergotamine production in submerged cultures and physiology of Claviceps purpurea. Applied Microbiology 15, 597–602.
| PubMed |
open url image1

Arcamone F, Cassinelli G, Ferni G, Penco S, Pennella P, Pol C (1970) Ergotamine production and metabolism of Claviceps purpurea strain 275 FI in stirred fermenters. Canadian Journal of Microbiology 16, 923–931.
| PubMed |
open url image1

Bacon CW, Porter JK, Robbins JD (1979) Laboratory production of ergot alkaloids by species of Balansia. Journal of General Microbiology 113, 119–126.
| PubMed |
open url image1

Barrow KD, Mantle PG, Quigley FR (1974) Biosynthesis of dihydroergot alkaloids. Tetrahedron Letters 15, 1557–1560.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Blaney BJ , Kopinski JS , Murray SA , McLennan SR , Moss RJ , Downing JA , Dingle JG (2001) Research on the toxicity of sorghum ergot and its alkaloids. In ‘Proceedings from the 4th Australian Sorghum Conference’. 5–8 February 2001, Kooralbyn. (Eds AK Borrell, RG Henzell) (CD-ROM, Range Media Pty Ltd)

Blaney BJ, Maryam R, Murray S-A, Ryley MJ (2003) Alkaloids of the sorghum ergot pathogen (Claviceps africana): assay methods for grain and feed and variation between sclerotia/sphacelia. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 54, 167–175.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Blaney BJ, McKenzie RA, Walters JR, Taylor LF, Bewg WS, Ryley MJ, Maryam R (2000) Sorghum ergot (Claviceps africana) associated with agalactia and feed refusal in pigs and dairy cattle. Australian Veterinary Journal 78, 102–107.
| PubMed |
open url image1

Bogo A, Mantle PG (2000) Caffeine: also a fungal metabolite. Phytochemistry 54, 937–939.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Frederickson DE, Mantle PG, de Milliano WAJ (1991) Claviceps africana sp. nov.; the distinctive ergot pathogen of sorghum in Africa. Mycological Research 95, 1101–1107. open url image1

Komolong B, Chakraborty S, Ryley M, Yates D (2002) Identity and genetic diversity of the sorghum ergot pathogen in Australia. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 53, 621–628.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Kren V (1999) Physiological regulation of ergot alkaloid production and special cultivation techniques. In ‘Ergot: the genus Claviceps’. Vol. 6 of Medicinal and industrial plants—industrial profiles. (Eds V Kren, L Cvak) pp. 165–172. (Harwood Academic Publishers: Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

Kulkarni BGP, Seshadri VS, Hegde RK (1976) The perfect stage of Sphacelia sorghi (McRae). Mysore Journal of Agricultural Sciences 10, 288–298. open url image1

Mantle PG (1973) Production of ergot alkaloids in vitro by Sphacelia sorghi. Journal of General Microbiology 75, 275–281.
| PubMed |
open url image1

Mantle PG, Tonolo A (1968) Relationship between the morphology of Claviceps purpurea and the production of alkaloids. Transactions of the British Mycological Society 51, 499–505. open url image1

Mantle PG, Wright ES (1968) Dihydroergosine: a new naturally occurring alkaloid from the sclerotia of Sphacelia sorghi (McRae). Nature 218, 581–582.
| Crossref |
open url image1

McRae W (1917) Notes on some south Indian fungi. In ‘Madras agricultural yearbook’. pp. 108–111. (Govt. of Madras, Madras Agricultural Department: Madras, India)

Minghetti A , Crespi-Perellino N (1999) The history of ergot. In ‘Ergot: the genus Claviceps’. Vol. 6 of Medicinal and industrial plants—industrial profiles.(Eds V Kren, L Cvak) pp. 1–24. (Harwood Academic Publishers: Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

Pazoutova SR, Bandyopadhyay R, Frederickson DE, Mantle PG, Frederiksen RA (2000) Relations among sorghum ergot isolates from the Americas, Africa, India and Australia. Plant Disease 84, 437–442. open url image1

Pazoutova S, Rehacek Z (1984) Phosphate regulation of phosphatases in submerged cultures of Claviceps purpurea 129 producing clavine alkaloids. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology 20, 389–392. open url image1

Robbers JE, Eggert WW, Floss HG (1978) Physiological studies on ergot. Time factor influence on the inhibitory effect of phosphate and the induction effect of tryptophan on alkaloid production. Lloydia 41, 120–129. open url image1

Ryley M , Henzell R (1997) Sorghum ergot in Australia. In ‘Proceedings of the Global Conference on Ergot of Sorghum’. (Eds CR Casela, JA Dahlberg) pp. 182–190. (Empresa Brazileira de Pesquisa Agropecuaria: Brazil)

Tooley PW, O’Neill NR, Goley ED, Carras MM (2000) Assessment of diversity in Claviceps africana and other Claviceps species by RAM and AFLP analyses. Phytopathology 90, 1126–1130. open url image1

Tsukiboshi T, Shimanuki T, Uematsu T (1999) Claviceps sorghicola sp. nov., a destructive ergot pathogen of sorghum in Japan. Mycological Research 103, 1403–1408.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1