Abstract

The fungal metabolite botrydial was detected for the first time in ripe fruits of sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum) cv. Bendigo wound-inoculated with conidial suspensions of B. cinerea and also in leaves of Phaseolus vulgaris and Arabidopsis thaliana inoculated without wounding. This phytotoxin was produced in soft rot regions of the infection. In C. annuum, the most aggressive isolate produced the highest botrydial concentrations in planta. The levels of botrydial produced by this isolate did not correlate with the reported relative susceptibilities of four P. vulgaris genotypes. The results suggest that botrydial is a pathogenicity factor for this fungus, but not a primary determinant of pathogenicity.