FvHtf1 regulates microconidiation in chain and false head.

<p>(A) Light microscope images of microconidiogenesis in wild-type <i>F. verticillioides</i> (A149), <i>FvHTF1</i> gene-deletion mutant (<i>ΔFvhtf1</i>) and complementated strain (<i>ΔFvhtf1-Com</i>). Chains and false heads of microconidia were evidently observed in <i>F. verticillioides</i> A149 and <i>ΔFvhtf1-Com</i>. In <i>ΔFvhtf1</i> mutant, microconidial chains were absent and instead microconidia were assembled in a aberrant petal-shaped false heads (a∼c). Bar = 50 µm. (B) Scanning electron microscopy of A149 and <i>ΔFvhtf1</i> microconidiation. Wild-type strain A149 showed the typical chains and false heads of microconidia (bar = 10 µm), but <i>ΔFvhtf1</i> failed to produce microconidial chains and instead produced false heads with 2 to 5 microconidia at the apex of monophialides resulting in a floral petal shape (bar = 5 µm). (C) Microconidia produced by A149, <i>ΔFvhtf1</i>, and <i>ΔFvhtf1-Com</i> in a 7-day-old mung bean agar culture. (D) Microconidia produced by A149, <i>ΔFvhtf1</i>, and <i>ΔFvhtf1-Com</i> in a 7-day-old SNA culture.