ORIGINAL PAPER Identification of airborne propagules of the Gibberella fujikuroi species complex during maize production Magyar Dona ´t • Sz} oke Csaba • Koncz Zsuzsanna • Sze ´csi A ´ rpa ´d • Bobvos Ja ´nos Received: 10 December 2010 / Accepted: 6 June 2011 / Published online: 19 June 2011 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011 Abstract The airborne dispersal of the anamorphs of the Gibberella fujikuroi species complex was studied under pre- and postharvest maize (corn) production conditions using a 3-stage Andersen sampler. The aim of this study was to identify and analyse the size distribution of such species in air samples. Differences were observed between the concentration of large- and small-sized propagules (identified as aggregates and single microconidia, respectively), but the difference was only significant during a high concentration period (October 2007, P = 0.009). No correlation was found between the concentration of fusaria found at different sampling heights (10 and 150 cm above ground level). Fusar- ium isolates were collected and identified based on morphological characters and using species-specific PCR assays. The PCR analysis confirmed morpho- logical identification of F. verticillioides, F. prolif- eratum and F. subglutinans. High concentrations were found during the maize harvest, loading and corn shelling. Our results showed that the monitoring of F. verticillioides should be performed at a single sampling height. Keywords Gibberella fujikuroi species complex Á Airborne Á Spore Á Maize 1 Introduction The members of the Gibberella fujikuroi species complex are well-known human and plant pathogenic fungi. Human infection usually occurs as a result of inoculation with the Fusarium anamorph. Portals of entry may be the respiratory tract, disrupted skin barrier, nail or corneal injury. F. verticillioides (Sacc.) Nirenberg was reported as the agent of keratitis (Dura ´n et al. 1989; Do ´czi et al. 2004), cutaneous infections (Veglia and Marks 1987), mycetoma (Ajello et al. 1985) and allergy (Kasznia- Kocot et al. 2007). A case of chronic invasive rhinosinusitis, caused by this fungus in an apparently healthy man, was also described by Mace ˆdo et al. (2008). F. subglutinans (Wollenweber und Reinking) Nelson, Toussoun and Marasas were also involved in cases of keratitis (Guarro and Gene ´ 1992). M. Dona ´t (&) Á B. Ja ´nos Department of Aerobiological Monitoring, National Institute of Environmental Health, Gya ´li u ´t 2–6, Budapest 1097, Hungary e-mail: magyar.donat@gmail.com S. Csaba Agricultural Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Martonva ´sa ´r, Hungary K. Zsuzsanna Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Eszterha ´zy Ka ´roly College, Eger, Hungary S. A ´ rpa ´d Department of Plant Pathology, Plant Protection Institute, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary 123 Aerobiologia (2012) 28:263–271 DOI 10.1007/s10453-011-9213-3