Pyrenophora seminiperda | |
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Pyrenophora seminiperda spores | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Fungi |
Division: | Ascomycota |
Class: | Dothideomycetes |
Order: | Pleosporales |
Family: | Pleosporaceae |
Genus: | Pyrenophora |
Species: | P. seminiperda |
Binomial name | |
Pyrenophora seminiperda (Brittleb. & D.B. Adam) Shoemaker, (1966) |
Pyrenophora seminiperda is a minor plant pathogen that causes leaf spots on many grasses. [1] It is an important generalist grass seed pathogen [2] which causes visible cylindrical masses of black fungal hyphae (stromata) to grow from infected seeds. Hence the common name "black fingers of death" [3]
It has been hypothesized that the fungus arrived in North America with invasive grasses from Eurasia. [4] BFOD has been suggested as a method of biocontrol of the invasive cheatgrass, one of the most important invasive species in the USA. [3] [5] Various secondary metabolites of the fungus, including Cytochalasin B, Pyrenophoric Acid-B, and Spirostaphylotrichin W, appears to be responsible for the seed killing. [6] [7] [8]
Dr. Erin Mordecai discusses BFOD and Cheatgrass during a seminar at the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at University of Michigan, Feb. 16, 2017