Claviceps africana

Frederickson DE, Mantle PG, De Milliano WAJ. Claviceps africana sp. nov., the distinctive ergot pathogen of sorghum in Africa. Mycol Res 95 1101-1107, 1991. 

San MF, Lavin P, Garcia A, Garcia G. Anamorphic states of Claviceps africana and Claviceps fusiformis (Ascomycetes, Clavicipitaceae) associated to different grasses in Tamaulipas, Mexico. Rev Mex Micol 13 52-57, 1997. 

McLaren NW, Wehner FC. Pre-flowering low temperature predisposition fo sorghum to sugary disease (Claviceps africana). J Phytopathol 135 328-334, 1992. 

In sorghum ergot, Claviceps africana, the sclerotia were thought to be rounded, 3-5 mm in diameter, with reddish brown spots, until another population of this fungus specialized on Hyparrhenia spp. was discovered (D. Frederickson and S. Pazoutova, unpublished), whose sclerotia are cylindrical and brown to black, 2-4 mm in length, and 0.5-1 mm wide. Here, the sclerotium is shaped only by floral cavity, and even the color is influenced by the pigments supplied by the host. Sclerotia formed on sorghum cultivars with dark seeds are more... 

Tooley PW, O Neill NR, Goley ED, Carras MM. Assessment of diversity in Claviceps africana and other Claviceps species by RAM and AFLP analyses. Phytopathology 90 1126-1130, 2000. 

Frederickson, D.E., Mantle, P.G. and De Milliano, W.A.J. (1993) Windborne spread of ergot disease (Claviceps africana) in sorghum A-lines in Zimbabwe. Plant Pathol., 42, 368-377. 

Although many of the clavine alkaloids are ergolines without any double bond in the D cycle, dihydro-a-ergosine isolated from Claviceps africana (Mantle and Waight, 1968) is the only example of natural dihydrolysergic acid derivative. 

Diliydro-a- ergosine 51 Claviceps africana parasitic, on Sorghum vulgare Mantle and Waight, 1968... 

Reis, E.M., Mantle, P.O. and Hassan, H.A.G. (1996) First report in the Americas of sorghum ergot disease, caused by a pathogen diagnosed as Claviceps africana. Plant Dis., 80, 463. 

Recently, a Claviceps sp. on Hyparrhenia rufa was found in southern Africa (Frederickson and Pazoutova, unpublished) whose conidia were very similar to C. africana, and its sclerotia were of the same shape as seeds of the host plant. RAPD patterns showed that it is indeed another population of C. africana, but more different than any of the sorghum isolates, which may be the beginning of speciation based on host adaptation. Although Hyparrhenia plants were neighbors of a sorghum field, no RAPD pattern similar to that of Hyparrhenia population was found among sorghum isolates. 

---