Nematicidal activity of bikaverin and fusaric acid isolated from Fusarium oxysporum against pine wood nematode, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus

Pine wood nematode, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, causes pine wilt disease in a number of Pinus species, which is one of the most serious plant diseases in forest, Korea. In the course of a search for nematicidal substances from endophytic fungi, Fusarium oxysporum EF119 out of the 23 fungal strains tested showed the strongest activity to B. xylophilus. Two nematicidal substances were isolated and identified as bikaverin and fusaric acid. Fusaric acid showed somewhat higher nematicidal activity against B. xylophilus than bikaverin; fusaric acid and bikaverin, at 100 mu g/ml, killed B. xylophilus with mortality values of 50% and 43%, respectively. In addition, both compounds acted synergistically. This is the first report on the nematicidal activity of bikaverin and fusaric acid.