Ultrastructure of melanin formation in Verticillium dahliae with (+)-scytalone as a biosynthetic intermediate

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Transmission and scanning EM showed that melanin of wild-type V. dahliae occurred as granules in microsclerotial cell walls and in fibrillar network encapsulating the walls. An albino microsclerotial mutant and a brown microsclerotial mutant of V. dahliae did not form melanin granules. When albino microsclerotia were treated with (+)-scytalone (a metabolite that the brown mutant accumulates), they formed melanin granules and turned black. These granules were similar in appearance and distribution to those in the wild type. Melanin granules of the wild-type isolate and the scytalone-treated albino mutant were formed at a maximum rate in microsclerotia from 5 to 8 day old cultures. These observations suggest that scytalone in a natural intermediate of melanin synthesis in V. dahliae.

This publication has 5 references indexed in Scilit: