Fig. 5

The role of vegetative hyphal fusions for disease progression and pycnidial development. a Susceptible wheat cultivar Drifter inoculated with ΔZtKu70, ΔZtSof1, or ΔZtSof1-comp strains were evaluated up to 21 days post-infection (dpi). All tested strains exhibited similar disease progression, including the onset of the necrotrophic phase at 11 dpi. b Pycnidia production on wheat extract agar. After 20 days of incubation, ΔZtKu70 and ΔZtSof1-comp strains produced brown pycnidium-like structures exuding a whitish liquid similar to the oozed cirrhus-containing pycnidiospores spores observed for Z. tritici-infected wheat plants. In contrast, ΔZtSof1 mutant formed mycelial knots, but those structures never developed in mature asexual fruiting bodies