Field strains of Stemphylium vesicarium with a resistance to dicarboximide fungicides correlated with changes in a two-component histidine kinase

In Stemphylium vesicarium, four phenotypes were recognized according to their in vitro responses to dicarboximide fungicides: S (sensitive), S₊ (low resistant to iprodione and procymidone but moderately resistant to vinclozolin), R₁ (moderately resistant to iprodione and vinclozolin but highly resistant to procymidone), R₂ (highly resistant to all dicarboximides). Cross-resistance was observed between dicarboximides and aromatic hydrocarbon fungicides in all cases while cross-resistance to phenylpyrroles was only detected in R₂ phenotype. Moreover, no changes were noted in sensitivity to oxidative and osmotic stress inducers. An osmosensing histidine kinase gene, homologous to OS1 from Neurospora crassa, was sequenced from several field isolates of Stemphylium vesicarium. This gene is predicted to encode a 1,329 amino acid protein, comprising a conserved histidine-kinase domain in the C-terminal region and six tandem repeats of about 90 amino acids at the N-terminal end. In S₊ and R₁ phenotype isolates, a single amino acid substitution was observed in the first amino acid repeat; F267L and L290S respectively. For the R₂ isolates, the exchanges T765R or Q777R were located within the histidine-kinase domain.