An Enzymic Basis for Pathogenic Specificity inOphiobolus graminis

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Abstract
Avenacin, the glucosidic inhibitor present in oat roots, is acted on by a specific glucosidase produced by Ophiobolus-graminis var. avenae, which destroys biological activity, as does hydrolysis with 0.1 N. HCl. Neither O. graminis itself nor any other fungus tested produces this enzyme. It is suggested that the resistance of oats to O. graminis and its susceptibility to var. avenae depend on an inhibitor-inactivating enzyme complex, and this is compared with the antibiotic-inactivating enzyme complex found in penicillin-producing moulds and resistant penicillinase-producing bacterial strains; such a complex may be concerned in other cases of pathogenic specificity. The way in which a variety of O. graminis pathogenic to oats may have arisen is discussed.

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