Investigation of the role of sterol delta 8-->7-isomerase in the sensitivity of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to fenpropimorph.

Treatment of Saccharomyces cerevisiae with the morpholine fungicide fenpropimorph was examined using both a wild-type and a mutant strain (erg2) defective in sterol delta 8-->7-isomerase. No resistance to fenpropimorph was observed in the mutant strain after 3 days, although after 7 days the mutant and the wild-type strains had grown in concentrations of fenpropimorph close to the saturating dose. Re-inoculation of both strains into fresh medium containing fenpropimorph resulted in continued growth and this adaptation to fungicide tolerance was lost on subculture in the absence of fenpropimorph. Analysis of the sterols present in the cells indicated that fenpropimorph treatment resulted in the accumulation of delta 8,14-sterols. This accumulation and the corresponding depletion of ergosterol were correlated with growth inhibition rather than the presence of delta 8-sterols. Together with an absence of gene dosage effect for ERG2 on fenpropimorph sensitivity, this supports the hypothesis that sterol delta 8-->7-isomerase inhibition does not contribute to the fungicidal activity of fenpropimorph.