scholarly journals First Report of Fusarium commune Causing Leaf Spot Disease on Bletilla striata in China

Plant Disease ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wang Hanyi ◽  
Hou Xiuming ◽  
Xueming Huang ◽  
Meng Gao ◽  
Tingting Chen ◽  
...  

Bletilla striata (Thunb.) Rchb. f. (Orchidaceae family, known as Baiji in Chinese) is a perennial herb and has been traditionally used for hemostasis and detumescence in China. In April of 2020, a leaf spot disease on B. striata was observed in plant nurseries (∼0.2 h) in Guilin, Guangxi Province, China. Approximately 20% of the plants were symptomatic, of which 150 plants were randomly selected for investigation. Initial symptoms include the appearance of small, circular or irregular light brown spots, randomly scattered on the edges and surfaces of the leaves, which progressively expand into large, suborbicular or irregular-shaped dark brown, necrotic areas. At the severe stage, the lesions coalesced into large necrotic areas and ultimately resulted in leaf abscission. To isolate the pathogen, three representative plants exhibiting symptoms were collected from the nurseries. Leaf tissues (5 × 5 mm) were cut from the margin of necrotic lesions (n = 18), surface-disinfected in 1% sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) solution for 2 min, then rinsed three times in sterile water before isolation. The tissues were plated on potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium, and incubated at 28°C (12-h photoperiod) for 3 days. Hyphal tips from recently germinated spores were transferred to PDA to obtain pure cultures. Nine fungal isolates with similar morphological characteristics were obtained. Three single-spore isolates, BJ23.1, BJ55.1, and BJ91.3, were subjected to further morphological and molecular characterisation. Colonies on PDA plates were villose, had a dense growth of aerial mycelia and appeared white (1A1) to yellowish white (3A2). Macroconidia were smooth, hyaline, straight to slightly curved, usually contained three or five septa, and measuring 23.3 to 42.1 × 3.0 to 6.2 μm (mean ± SD: 31.2 ± 5.1 × 4.2 ± 0.6 μm, n = 50). Microconidia were generally cylindrical, straight to slightly curved, aseptate, and measuring 7.2 to 18.8 × 2.5 to 4.3 μm (mean ± SD: 12.1 ± 2.8 × 3.3 ± 0.5 μm, n = 62). Morphological characteristics are similar to those of F. commune (Skovgaard et al. 2003). For molecular identification, the genomic DNA of the isolates BJ23.1, BJ55.1, and BJ91.3 were extracted using the CTAB method (Guo et al. 2000). The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of rDNA, partial translation elongation factor-1 alpha (TEF-1α), RNA polymerase second largest subunit (RPB2), and the mitochondrial small subunit rDNA (mtSSU) genes were amplified using primer pairs [ITS1/ITS4 (White et al. 1990), EF-1/EF-2 (O’Donnell et al. 1998), and 5f2/11ar (Liu et al. 1999, Reeb et al. 2004), MS1/MS2 (Li et al. 1994), respectively]. The obtained sequences were deposited in NCBI GenBank under the following accession numbers: ITS (MZ424697 to MZ424699), TEF-1α (MZ513467 to MZ513469), RPB2 (MZ513473 to MZ513475), and mtSSU (MZ513470 to MZ513472). BLAST® analysis of the deposited sequences showed 99 to 100% identity with those of F. commune present in GenBank (Accession numbers: DQ016205, MH582348, MH582181, AF077383). In addition, a phylogenetic analysis using concatenated sequences of ITS, TEF-1α, mtSSU genes showed that BJ23.1, BJ55.1, and BJ91.3 located on the same clade with strains of F. commune. Therefore, based on morphological and molecular characteristics, the isolates were identified as F. commune (Skovgaard et al. 2003, Stewart et al. 2006). Pathogenicity was tested using 1.5-year-old B. striata plants. Healthy leaves on plants were inoculated with 5 × 5 mm mycelial discs of strains BJ23.1, BJ55.1, and BJ91.3 from 3-day-old PDA cultures, each isolate was inoculated onto three plants; three other plants inoculated with sterile PDA discs served as controls. All plants were enclosed in transparent plastic bags and incubated in a greenhouse at 28°C for 14 days (12-h photoperiod). Three days post-inoculation, leaf spot symptoms appeared on the inoculated leaves. No symptoms were detected on control plants. Experiments were replicated three times with similar results. To fulfill Koch’s postulates, F. commune was consistently re-isolated from symptomatic tissue and confirmed by morphology and sequencing, whereas no fungus was isolated from the control plants. F. commune has been reported to cause diseases on some plants, including sugarcane (Wang et al. 2018), maize (Xi et al. 2019) and Wax Gourd (Zeng et al. 2020). To our knowledge, this is the first report of F. commune causing leaf spot disease on B. striata in China. Identification of this pathogen provides the information for further studies to develop management strategies to control the disease.

Plant Disease ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lv-Yin Zhou ◽  
Shuang-Feng Yang ◽  
Shao-Mei Wang ◽  
Jing-Wen Lv ◽  
Wei Qiang Wan ◽  
...  

Bletilla striata (Thunb.) Rchb. f. (Orchidaceae) is traditionally used for hemostasis and detumescence in China. In April 2019, a leaf spot disease on B. striata was observed in plant nurseries in Guilin, Guangxi Province, China, with an estimated incidence of ~30%. Initial symptoms include the appearance of circular or irregular brown spots on leaf surfaces, which progressively expand into large, dark brown, necrotic areas. As lesions coalesce, large areas of the leaf die, ultimately resulting in abscission. To isolate the pathogen, representative samples exhibiting symptoms were collected, leaf tissues (5 × 5 mm) were cut from the junction of diseased and healthy tissue, surface-disinfected in 1% sodium hypochlorite solution for 2 min, rinsed three times in sterile water, plated on potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium, and incubated at 28°C (12-h light-dark cycle) for 3 days. Hyphal tips from recently germinated spores were transferred to PDA to obtain pure cultures. Nine fungal isolates with similar morphological characteristics were obtained. Colonies on PDA were villose, had a dense growth of aerial mycelia and appeared pinkish white from above and greyish orange at the center and pinkish-white at the margin on the underside. Macroconidia were smooth, and hyaline, with a dorsiventral curvature, hooked to tapering apical cells, and 3- to 5-septate. Three-septate macroconidia were 21.2 to 32.1 × 2.4 to 3.9 μm (mean ± SD: 26.9 ± 2.5 × 3.2 ± 0.4 μm, n = 30); 4-septate macroconidia were 29.5 to 38.9 × 3.0 to 4.3 μm (mean ± SD: 33.5 ± 2.6 × 3.6 ± 0.3 μm, n = 40); and 5-septate macroconidia were 39.3 to 55.6 × 4.0 to 5.4 μm (mean ± SD: 48.0 ± 3.9 × 4.5 ± 0.3 μm, n = 50). These morphological characteristics were consistent with F. ipomoeae, a member of the Fusarium incarnatum-equiseti species complex (FIESC) (Wang et al. 2019). To confirm the fungal isolate’s identification, the genomic DNA of the single-spore isolate BJ-22.3 was extracted using the CTAB method (Guo et al. 2000). The internal transcribed space (ITS) region of rDNA, translation elongation factor-1 alpha (TEF-1α), and partial RNA polymerase second largest subunit (RPB2) were amplified using primer pairs [ITS1/ITS4 (White et al. 1990), EF-1/EF-2 (O’Donnell et al. 1998), and 5f2/11ar (Liu, Whelen et al. 1999, Reeb, Lutzoni et al. 2004), respectively]. The ITS (MT939248), TEF-1α (MT946880), and RPB2 (MT946881) sequences of the BJ-22.3 isolate were deposited in GenBank. BLASTN analysis of these sequences showed over 99% nucleotide sequence identity with members of the FIESC: the ITS sequence showed 99.6% identity (544/546 bp) to F. lacertarum strain NRRL 20423 (GQ505682); the TEF-1α sequence showed 99.4% similarity (673/677 bp) to F. ipomoeae strain NRRL 43637 (GQ505664); and the RPB2 sequence showed 99.6% identity (1883/1901 bp) to F. equiseti strain GZUA.1657 (MG839492). Phylogenetic analysis using concatenated sequences of ITS, TEF-1α, and RPB2 showed that BJ-22.3 clustered monophyletically with strains of F. ipomoeae. Therefore, based on morphological and molecular characteristics, the isolate BJ-22.3 was identified as F. ipomoeae. To verify the F. ipomoeae isolate’s pathogenicity, nine 1.5-year-old B. striata plants were inoculated with three 5 × 5 mm mycelial discs of strain BJ-22.3 from 4-day-old PDA cultures. Additionally, three control plants were inoculated with sterile PDA discs. The experiments were replicated three times. All plants were enclosed in transparent plastic bags and incubated in a greenhouse at 26°C for 14 days. Four days post-inoculation, leaf spot symptoms appeared on the inoculated leaves, while no symptoms were observed in control plants. Finally, F. ipomoeae was consistently re-isolated from leaf lesions from the infected plants. To our knowledge, this is the first report of F. ipomoeae causing leaf spot disease on B. striata in China. The spread of this disease might pose a serious threat to the production of B. striata. Growers should implement disease management to minimize the risks posed by this pathogen.


Plant Disease ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Da Li ◽  
Tianning Zhang ◽  
Qingni Song ◽  
Jun Liu ◽  
Haiyan Zhang ◽  
...  

As an important industrial, pharmaceutical and evergreen shade tree (Singh and Jawaid 2012), the camphor tree (Cinnamomum camphora) has been coppiced in Jiangxi Province, China. From 2017 to 2020, we noticed many camphor trees with leaf spots, with an incidence estimated at 50 to 75%, which could severely inhibit leaf growth and reduce their biomass. A dark-green circle with a watery spot appeared on the infected leaves at the initial stage, and necrosis with forming shot-spots surrounded by yellow halos occurred (Figure 1 A). Five leaves with typical symptoms were sampled and washed with tap water for ca. 15 min. Isolation and morphological analysis were performed following the method of Bao et al. (2019). Among 61 fungal isolates, 49 showed the same culture characters. Colonies on PDA were villose and regular, the reverse was scarlet at the edge of the colony, which was ca. 8.75 cm after 7 days of inoculation (Figure 1 I). Chlamydospores were aseptate, dark brown, smooth, in chains or solitary, ellipsoidal to ovoid, 4.8–9.6 × 4.8–11.1 μm (Figure 1 J). The pycnidia were produced on PDA and varied from 47.4 to 85.8 µm (mean 60.2 µm) × 38.6 to 66.8 μm (mean 49.7 μm) (n = 17) (Figure 1 K). Conidia were hyaline, unicellular, elliptical to ovoid, 4.3-6.4 µm (mean 5.1 µm) × 2.3-3.3 µm (mean 2.8 µm) (n = 52) (Figure 1 L). Pathogenicity tests of isolate XW-9 was carried out in the field. Ten leaves were wounded with a sterilized insect needle and inoculated with mycelium plugs (7-mm diameter). Non-colonized PDA plugs served as the negative controlIn addition, conidial suspensions (105 conidia/mL) of isolate XW-9 were sprayed on surface-sterilized leaves with a further ten leaves being sprayed with sterile water as the control. Symptoms described in this study appeared in 100% of the mycelium-inoculated leaves and more than 80% of the conidium-inoculated leaves after 7 days post-inoculation (Figure 1 B-E). No symptoms were seen in the controls (Figure 1 C). Three days after inoculation, brown spots resembling those observed in the field developed on the inoculated leaves, and some lesions turned into shot holes on the infected leaves (Figure 1 G & H). However, no symptoms were observed on the controls (Figure 1 F). The fungus was re-isolated from the margins of the leaf spots and labelled P-XW-9A. The gene regions for ITS, LSU, tub2, RPB2 and ACT of isolates XW-9 and P-XW-9A were amplified and sequenced. The sequences of rDNA-ITS, LSU, tub2, RPB2 and ACT of XW-9 were GenBank MW142397, MW130844, MW165322, MW446945 and MW165324, respectively and those of P-XW-9A were GenBank MW142398, MW130845, MW165323, MW446946 and MW165325, respectively (Lumbsch, et al. 2000; Aveskamp, et al. 2009; Hou et al. 2020). Phylogenetic analysis using concatenated sequences of ITS, LSU, RPB2, and tub2 showed that isolates XW-9 and P-XW-9A formed a single clade with the reference strain of E. poaceicola CBS 987.95 (Figure 2). Thus, XW-9 was identified as E. poaceicola based on its morphological and molecular characteristics. Significantly, the recovered isolate P-XW-9A also aligned with E. poaceicola fulfilling the criteria for Koch's Postulates. E. poaceicola was only reported as a fungal pathogen of Phyllostachys viridis in China (Liu et al. 2020). To our knowledge, this is the first report of leaf spot disease on camphor trees caused by E. poaceicola in China and our findings will be useful for its management.


Plant Disease ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yang Zhang ◽  
Guangqiang Li ◽  
Dou Yang ◽  
Ruoling Zhang ◽  
Songze Wan

Mu oil tree (Vernicia montana) is an economically important woody oil plant, which is widely distributed in southern China. In mid-May 2020, a leaf spot disease was observed on the leaves of mu oil tree in Taihe County in Jiangxi Province, China (26°55′25.55″N, 114°49′5.85″E). The disease incidence was estimated to be above 40%. Initial symptoms were circular red-brown spots which were 1-2 mm in diameter, then enlarged with red-brown center. In later stages, the spots coalesced and formed large patches, and subsequently red-brown centers of lesions gradually dried and fell out, forming a “shot hole” appearance. To identify the pathogen, diseased leaves were collected from Taihe County. Leaf tissues (5 × 5 mm) were cut from the margins of typical symptomatic lesions, surface- sterilized in 75% ethanol for 30 seconds and 3% sodium hypochlorite for 60 seconds, then rinsed with sterile distilled water three times. Leaf pieces were placed on potato dextrose agar (PDA; 1.5%, Difco-BD Diagnostics) and incubated at 25 °C in the dark. Pure cultures were obtained from individual conidia by recovering single spores. On PDA, colonies were initially white and cottony. The mycelia then became pinkish to deep-pink with time at the center on the front side and pink on the reverse side. Colonies produced pale orange conidial masses after 9 days. Conidia were fusiform with acute ends, smooth-walled, hyaline, and measured 3.6–5.5 × 8.1–14.5 µm (4.5 ± 0.5 × 10.6 ± 1.0 µm, n = 100). The morphological characteristics of the isolate matched the descriptions of Colletotrichum acutatum complex (Damm et al. 2012). For molecular identification, the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), chitin synthase (CHS-1), beta-tubulin 2 (TUB2), and actin (ACT) were sequenced using the primers ITS1/ITS4, GDF/GDR, CHS-79F/CHS-345R, T1/Bt2b, ACT-512F/ACT-783R, respectively (Weir et al. 2012). The obtained sequences were deposited into the GenBank [accession nos. MW584317 (ITS); MW656269 (GAPDH); MW656270 (TUB2); MW656268 (CHS-1); MW656267 (ACT)]. All the sequences showed 94 to 100% similarity with those of C. fioriniae. A neighbor-joining phylogenetic tree was generated by combining all the sequenced loci using MEGA7.0 (Kumar et al. 2016). The isolate TH-M4 clustered with C. fioriniae, having 99% bootstrap support. Base on the morphology and multi-gene phylogeny, isolate TH-M4 was identified as C. fioriniae (Damm et al. 2012). To confirm pathogenicity, 20 healthy leaves of 10 mu oil trees (3-year-old) grown outdoors were inoculated with a drop of spore suspension (106 conidia per mL) of the isolate TH-M4 in September 2020. Another 10 plants were inoculated with sterile water as the control. The leaves were wounded with a sterile toothpick. All the inoculated leaves were covered with black plastic bags to maintain humidity for 2 days. The pathogenicity test was repeated twice. The resulting symptoms were similar to those on the original infected plants, whereas the control leaves remained asymptomatic. The same fungus was re-isolated from the lesions on the inoculated plant, fulfilling Koch’s postulates. C. fioriniae has been recorded as anthracnose pathogen on Mahonia aquifolium (Garibaldi et al. 2020), Paeonia lactiflora (Park et al. 2020), Solanum melongena (Xu et al. 2020), and Juglans regia (Varjas et al. 2020). To our knowledge, this is the first report of C. fioriniae associated with leaf spot disease on mu oil tree in China. This study provided crucial information for epidemiologic studies and appropriate control strategies for this oil plant disease.


Plant Disease ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanxiang Qi ◽  
Yanping Fu ◽  
Jun Peng ◽  
Fanyun Zeng ◽  
Yanwei Wang ◽  
...  

Banana (Musa acuminate L.) is an important tropical fruit in China. During 2019-2020, a new leaf spot disease was observed on banana (M. acuminate L. AAA Cavendish, cv. Formosana) at two orchards of Chengmai county (19°48ʹ41.79″ N, 109°58ʹ44.95″ E), Hainan province, China. In total, the disease incidence was about 5% of banana trees (6 000 trees). The leaf spots occurred sporadically and were mostly confined to the leaf margin, and the percentage of the leaf area covered by lesions was less than 1%. Symptoms on the leaves were initially reddish brown spots that gradually expanded to ovoid-shaped lesions and eventually become necrotic, dry, and gray with a yellow halo. The conidia obtained from leaf lesions were brown, erect or curved, fusiform or elliptical, 3 to 4 septa with dimensions of 13.75 to 31.39 µm × 5.91 to 13.35 µm (avg. 22.39 × 8.83 µm). The cells of both ends were small and hyaline while the middle cells were larger and darker (Zhang et al. 2010). Morphological characteristics of the conidia matched the description of Curvularia geniculata (Tracy & Earle) Boedijn. To acquire the pathogen, tissue pieces (15 mm2) of symptomatic leaves were surface disinfected in 70% ethanol (10 s) and 0.8% NaClO (2 min), rinsed in sterile water three times, and transferred to potato dextrose agar (PDA) for three days at 28°C. Grayish green fungal colonies appeared, and then turned fluffy with grey and white aerial mycelium with age. Two representative isolates (CATAS-CG01 and CATAS-CG92) of single-spore cultures were selected for molecular identification. Genomic DNA was extracted from the two isolates, the internal transcribed spacer (ITS), large subunit ribosomal DNA (LSU rDNA), glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), translation elongation factor 1-alpha (TEF1-α) and RNA polymerase II second largest subunit (RPB2) were amplified and sequenced with universal primers ITS1/ITS4, LROR/LR5, GPD1/GPD2, EF1-983F/EF1-2218R and 5F2/7cR, respectively (Huang et al. 2017; Raza et al. 2019). The sequences were deposited in GenBank (MW186196, MW186197, OK091651, OK721009 and OK491081 for CATAS-CG01; MZ734453, MZ734465, OK091652, OK721100 and OK642748 for CATAS-CG92, respectively). For phylogenetic analysis, MEGA7.0 (Kumar et al. 2016) was used to construct a Maximum Likelihood (ML) tree with 1 000 bootstrap replicates, based on a concatenation alignment of five gene sequences of the two isolates in this study as well as sequences of other Curvularia species obtained from GenBank. The cluster analysis revealed that isolates CATAS-CG01 and CATAS-CG92 were C. geniculata. Pathogenicity assays were conducted on 7-leaf-old banana seedlings. Two leaves from potted plants were stab inoculated by puncturing into 1-mm using a sterilized needle and placing 10 μl conidial suspension (2×106 conidia/ml) on the surface of wounded leaves and equal number of leaves were inoculated with sterile distilled water serving as control (three replicates). Inoculated plants were grown in the greenhouse (12 h/12 h light/dark, 28°C, 90% relative humidity). Necrotic lesions on inoculated leaves appeared seven days after inoculation, whereas control leaves remained healthy. The fungus was recovered from inoculated leaves, and its taxonomy was confirmed morphologically and molecularly, fulfilling Koch’s postulates. C. geniculata has been reported to cause leaf spot on banana in Jamaica (Meredith, 1963). To our knowledge, this is the first report of C. geniculata on banana in China.


Plant Disease ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 92 (2) ◽  
pp. 318-318
Author(s):  
S. Zhao ◽  
G. Xie ◽  
H. Zhao ◽  
H. Li ◽  
C. Li

Snow lotus (Saussurea involucrata Karel. & Kir. ex Sch. Bip.) is an economically important medicinal herb increasingly grown in China in recent years. In June of 2005, a leaf spot disease on commercially grown plants was found in the QiTai Region, south of the Tianshan Mountain area of Xinjiang, China at 2,100 m above sea level. Disease incidence was approximately 60 to 70% of the plants during the 2006 and 2007 growing seasons. Initial symptoms appeared on older leaves as irregularly shaped, minute, dark brown-to-black spots, with yellow borders on the edge of the leaflet blade by July. As the disease progressed, the lesions expanded, causing the leaflets to turn brown, shrivel, and die. A fungus was consistently isolated from the margins of these lesions on potato dextrose agar. Fifty-eight isolates were obtained that produced abundant conidia in the dark. Conidia were usually solitary, rarely in chains of two, ellipsoid to obclavate, with 6 to 11 transverse and one longitudinal or oblique septum. Conidia measured 60 to 80 × 20 to 30 μm, including a filamentous beak (13 to 47 × 3.5 to 6 μm). According to the morphology, and when compared with the standard reference strains, the causal organism of leaf spot of snow lotus was identified as Alternaria carthami (1,4). Pathogenicity of the strains was tested on snow lotus seedlings at the six-leaf stage. The lower leaves of 20 plants were sprayed until runoff with conidial suspensions of 1 × 104 spores mL–1, and five plants sprayed with sterile distilled water served as controls. All plants were covered with a polyethylene bag, incubated at 25°C for 2 days, and subsequently transferred to a growth chamber at 25°C with a 16-h photoperiod. Light brown lesions developed within 10 days on leaflet margins in all inoculated plants. The pathogen was reisolated from inoculated leaves, and isolates were deposited at the Key Oasis Eco-agriculture Laboratory of Xinjiang Production and Construction Group, Xinjiang and the Institute of Biotechnology, Zhejiang University. No reports of a spot disease caused by A. carthami on snow lotus leaves have been found, although this pathogen has been reported on safflower in western Canada (3), Australia (2), India (1), and China (4). To our knowledge, this is the first report of a leaf spot caused by A. carthami on snow lotus in China. References: (1) S. Chowdhury. J. Indian Bot. Soc. 23:59, 1944. (2) J. A. G. Irwin. Aust. J. Exp. Agric. Anim. Husb. 16:921, 1976. (3) G. A. Petrie. Can. Plant Dis. Surv. 54:155, 1974. (4) T. Y. Zhang. J. Yunnan Agric. Univ.17:320, 2002.


Plant Disease ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 87 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-203
Author(s):  
S. T. Koike ◽  
S. A. Tjosvold ◽  
J. Z. Groenewald ◽  
P. W. Crous

Bells-of-Ireland (Moluccella laevis) (Lamiaceae) is an annual plant that is field planted in coastal California (Santa Cruz County) for commercial cutflower production. In 2001, a new leaf spot disease was found in these commercially grown cutflowers. The disease was most serious in the winter-grown crops in 2001 and 2002, with a few plantings having as much as 100% disease incidence. All other plantings that were surveyed during this time had at least 50% disease. Initial symptoms consisted of gray-green leaf spots. Spots were generally oval in shape, often delimited by the major leaf veins, and later turned tan. Lesions were apparent on both adaxial and abaxial sides of the leaves. A cercosporoid fungus having fasciculate conidiophores, which formed primarily on the abaxial leaf surface, was consistently associated with the spots. Based on morphology and its host, this fungus was initially considered to be Cercospora molucellae Bremer & Petr., which was previously reported on leaves of M. laevis in Turkey (1). However, sequence data obtained from the internal transcribed spacer region (ITS1, ITS2) and the 5.8S gene (STE-U 5110, 5111; GenBank Accession Nos. AY156918 and AY156919) indicated there were no base pair differences between the bells-of-Ireland isolates from California, our own reference isolates of C. apii, as well as GenBank sequences deposited as C. apii. Based on these data, the fungus was subsequently identified as C. apii sensu lato. Pathogenicity was confirmed by spraying a conidial suspension (1.0 × 105 conidia/ml) on leaves of potted bells-of-Ireland plants, incubating the plants in a dew chamber for 24 h, and maintaining them in a greenhouse (23 to 25°C). After 2 weeks, all inoculated plants developed leaf spots that were identical to those observed in the field. C. apii was again associated with all leaf spots. Control plants, which were treated with water, did not develop any symptoms. The test was repeated and the results were similar. To our knowledge this is the first report of C. apii as a pathogen of bells-of-Ireland in California. Reference: (1) C. Chupp. A Monograph of the Fungus Genus Cercospora. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, 1954.


Plant Disease ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 97 (1) ◽  
pp. 138-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Z. Fu ◽  
M. Yang ◽  
G. Y. Li ◽  
J. R. Wu ◽  
J. Z. Zhang ◽  
...  

Chinese bean tree, Catalpa fargesii f. duciouxii (Dode) Gilmour, is an ornamental arbor plant. Its roots, leaves, and flowers have long been used for medicinal purposes in China. During July 2010, severe outbreaks of leaf spot disease on this plant occurred in Kunming, Yunnan Province. The disease incidence was greater than 90%. The symptoms on leaves began as dark brown lesions surrounded by chlorotic halos, and later became larger, round or irregular spots with gray to off-white centers surrounded by dark brown margins. Leaf tissues (3 × 3 mm), cut from the margins of lesions, were surface disinfected in 0.1% HgCl2 solution for 3 min, rinsed three times in sterile water, plated on potato dextrose agar (PDA), and incubated at 28°C. The same fungus was consistently isolated from the diseased leaves. Colonies of white-to-dark gray mycelia formed on PDA, and were slightly brown on the underside of the colony. The hyphae were achromatic, branching, septate, and 4.59 (±1.38) μm in diameter on average. Perithecia were brown to black, globose in shape, and 275.9 to 379.3 × 245.3 to 344.8 μm. Asci that formed after 3 to 4 weeks in culture were eight-spored, clavate to cylindrical. The ascospores were fusiform, slightly curved, unicellular and hyaline, and 13.05 to 24.03 × 10.68 to 16.02 μm. PCR amplification was carried out by utilizing universal rDNA-ITS primer pair ITS4/ITS5 (2). Sequencing of the PCR products of DQ1 (GenBank Accession No. JN165746) revealed 99% similarity (100% coverage) with Colletotrichum gloeosporioides isolates (GenBank Accession No. FJ456938.1, No. EU326190.1, No. DQ682572.1, and No. AY423474.1). Phylogenetic analyses (MEGA 4.1) using the neighbor-joining (NJ) algorithm placed the isolate in a well-supported cluster (>90% bootstrap value based on 1,000 replicates) with other C. gloeosporioides isolates. The pathogen was identified as C. gloeosporioides (Penz.) Penz. & Sacc. (teleomorph Glomerella cingulata (Stoneman) Spauld & H. Schrenk) based on the morphological characteristics and rDNA-ITS sequence analysis (1). To confirm pathogenicity, Koch's postulates were performed on detached leaves of C. fargesii f. duciouxii, inoculated with a solution of 1.0 × 106 conidia per ml. Symptoms similar to the original ones started to appear after 10 days, while untreated leaves remained healthy. The inoculation assay used three leaves for untreated and six leaves for treated. The experiments were repeated once. C. gloeosporioides was consistently reisolated from the diseased tissue. C. gloeosporioides is distributed worldwide causing anthracnose on a wide variety of plants (3). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of C. gloeosporioides causing leaf spots on C. fargesii f. duciouxii in China. References: (1) B. C. Sutton. Page 1 in: Colletotrichum: Biology, Pathology and Control. CAB International. Wallingford, UK, 1992. (2) T. J. White et al. Page 315 in: PCR Protocols: A Guide to Methods and Applications. Academic Press, San Diego, 1990. (3) J. Yan et al. Plant Dis. 95:880, 2011.


Plant Disease ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dahui Liu ◽  
Qiaohuan Chen ◽  
Yuhuan Miao ◽  
Jinxin Li ◽  
Qi Yang

White Chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum morifolium), a perennial herb of the Compositae family, is used for traditional medicine. The planting area of white chrysanthemum in Macheng city, Hubei Province is about 3333 ha and the annual output can reach more than 5000 tons. In 2019, leaf spot disease appeared on almost all middle and lower leaves of white chrysanthemum in most fields of Fengshumiao county, Macheng city (N31°29′57″, E115°05′49″). This county has 33 acres white chrysanthemum planting area, and most of the plants in the county were infected with the leaf spot disease. The average incidence of leaf spot disease was 65%, and incidence in some areas was 100%. In our observations, leaf spot disease can occur throughout the whole growth period of white chrysanthemum, and it will become more serious under the high temperature and humidity condition. Usually, the diseased leaves account for 30 to 80% of the total leaves on the plant. Leaf spot initially manifests as necrotic lesions on the edge and tip of the leaf, and then the lesions coalesce and gradually expand to form irregular light-brown to brown-black spots, eventually leading to necrosis and curling of the entire leaf. This disease seriously affects the growth and development of plants, resulting in the decline of yield and quality of white chrysanthemum. Ten symptomatic leaf samples were collected, the surfaces were disinfected with 0.1% mercuric chloride (HgCl2) for 3 min, and washed with sterile distilled water three times. Ten tissue samples at the junction of diseased and healthy areas (0.5 × 0.5 cm2) were cut and placed on potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium containing 100 µg/ml cefotaxime sodium and incubated in a dark chamber at 28°C. After 2 days, the hyphal tips from the edges of growing colonies were transferred to fresh PDA plates for further purification. Finally, eight isolates were obtained and these isolates were similar in morphology. The color of purified isolates was initially white to pale yellow. After six days of incubation, colonies had a diameter of 8 cm and the cultures were pale gray and starting to secrete scarlet pigment. After 15 days incubation, the colonies were grayish brown, while the backside was reddish-brown. Gray to tan chlamydospores were observed, nearly spherical, with a wart-like surface. Unicellular chlamydospores were 7.91 to 32.23 × 12.03 to 38.42 µm (n=30) and multicellular chlamydospores were 6.32 to 25.10 × 21.75 to 100.05 µm (n=30). The morphological characteristics were similar to Epicoccum sorghinum (Kang et al. 2019). The isolate FDY-5 was chosen for molecular identification. The sequence of rDNA-ITS, TUB, and LSU of the FDY-5 were amplified (GenBank MT800929, MT799852, and MT800935, respectively) (White et al. 1990; Carbone and Kohn 1999; Lumbsch et al. 2000). BLAST results showed that the rDNA-ITS sequences, the TUB gene sequences, and LSU gene sequences of strain FDY-5 shared 99% identity with the sequences of E. sorghinum (syn. Phoma sorghina) in GenBank (MN555348.1, MF987525.1, MK516207.1, respectively). Moreover, a phylogenetic tree of the LSU gene sequence of FDY-5 was constructed based on the Neighbor-Joining (NJ) method in MEGA6 software (Tamura et al. 2013) and revealed that strain FDY-5 was closest to E. sorghinum. Based on morphological and molecular characteristics, the fungus was identified as E. sorghinum. Pathogenicity tests were conducted on two-month-old white chrysanthemum plants. The upper three leaves of three plants were randomly selected for stab treatment and were inoculated with 5 × 5 mm mycelial discs produced from a fifteen-day-old colony on PDA. The inoculated and control (treated with sterile PDA disks) plants were incubated in a moist chamber (25 ± 2 °C, RH 85%). The first lesions appeared 1 day after inoculation on leaves, and the necrotic lesion area expanded outward and showed typical symptoms 3 days later. To fulfill Koch's postulates, the pathogen was reisolated from nine inoculated leaves by repeating the above isolating operation, and confirmed as E. sorghinum by morphology. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of E. sorghinum causing leaf spot on white chrysanthemum in China. E. sorghinum has a wide host range worldwide and often causes crop yield reduction. This report will facilitate the diagnosis of white chrysanthemum leaf spot of white chrysanthemum allowing control measures to be adopted to manage this disease in a timely manner. References Carbone, I., and Kohn, L. M. 1999. Mycologia 91:553. Kang, Y., et al. 2019. Plant Dis. 103 (7):1787. Lumbsch, H., et al. 2000. Plant Biol. 2:525. Tamura, K., et al. 2013. Mol. Biol. Evol. 30:2725-2729. White, T. J., et al. 1990. Page 315 in:PCR protocols:a guide to methods and applications. Academic Press, San Diego, CA. Funding Funding was supported by Major Increase and Decrease Projects at the Central Level of China (2060302) and the National Key Research and Development Program (2017FYC1700704).


Plant Disease ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 98 (2) ◽  
pp. 284-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Mahadevakumar ◽  
K. M. Jayaramaiah ◽  
G. R. Janardhana

Lablab purpureus (L.) Sweet (Indian bean) is an important pulse crop grown in arid and semi-arid regions of India. It is one of the most widely cultivated legume species and has multiple uses. During a September 2010 survey, we recorded a new leaf spot disease on L. purpureus in and around Mysore district (Karnataka state) with 40 to 80% disease incidence in 130 ha of field crop studied, which accounted for 20 to 35% estimated yield loss. The symptoms appeared as small necrotic spots on the upper leaf surface. The leaf spots were persistent under mild infection throughout the season with production of conidia in clusters on abaxial leaf surface. A Dueteromyceteous fungus was isolated from affected leaf tissues that were surface sterilized with 2% NaOCl2 solution then washed thrice, dried, inoculated on potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium, and incubated at 28 ± 2°C at 12 h alternate light and dark period for 7 days. The fungal colony with aerial mycelia interspersed with dark cushion-shaped sporodochia consists of short, compact conidiophores bearing large isodiametric, solitary, muricate, brown, globular to pear shaped conidia (29.43 to 23.92 μm). Fungal isolate was identified as Epicoccum sp. based on micro-morphological and cultural features (1). Further authenticity of the fungus was confirmed by PCR amplification of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region using ITS1/ITS4 universal primer. The amplified PCR product was purified, sequenced directly, and BLASTn search revealed 100% homology to Epicoccum nigrum Link. (DQ093668.1 and JX914480.1). A representative sequence of E. nigrum was deposited in GenBank (Accession No. KC568289.1). The isolated fungus was further tested for its pathogenicity on 30-day-old healthy L. purpureus plants under greenhouse conditions. A conidial suspension (106 conidia/ml) was applied as foliar spray (three replicates of 15 plants each) along with suitable controls. The plants were kept under high humidity (80%) for 5 days and at ambient temperature (28 ± 2°C). The appearance of leaf spot symptoms were observed after 25 days post inoculation. Further, the pathogen was re-isolated and confirmed by micro-morphological characteristics. E. nigrum has been reported to cause post-harvest decay of cantaloupe in Oklahoma (2). It has also been reported as an endophyte (3). Occurrence as a pathogen on lablab bean has not been previously reported. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the occurrence of E. nigrum on L. purpureus in India causing leaf spot disease. References: (1) H. L. Barnet and B. B. Hunter. Page 150 in: Illustrated Genera of Imperfect Fungi, 1972. (2) B. D. Bruten et al. Plant Dis. 77:1060, 1993. (3) L. C. Fávaro et al. PLoS One 7(6):e36826, 2012.


Plant Disease ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 99 (2) ◽  
pp. 289-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Z. Zhu ◽  
W. J. Liao ◽  
D. X. Zou ◽  
Y. J. Wu ◽  
Y. Zhou

In May 2014, a severe leaf spot disease was observed on walnut tree (Juglans regia L.) in Hechi, Guangxi, China. Leaf spots were circular to semicircular in shape, water-soaked, later becoming grayish white in the center with a dark brown margin and bordered by a tan halo. Necrotic lesions were approximately 3 to 4 mm in diameter. Diseased leaves were collected from 10 trees in each of five commercial orchards. The diseased leaves were cut into 5 × 5 mm slices, dipped in 75% ethanol for 30 s, washed three times in sterilized water, sterilized with 0.1% (w/v) HgCl2 for 3 min, and then rinsed five times with sterile distilled water. These slices were placed on potato dextrose agar (PDA), followed by incubating at 28°C for about 3 to 4 days. Fungal isolates were obtained from these diseased tissues, transferred onto PDA plates, and incubated at 28°C. These isolates produced gray aerial mycelium and then became pinkish gray with age. Moreover, the reverse of the colony was pink. The growth rate was 8.21 to 8.41 mm per day (average = 8.29 ± 0.11, n = 3) at 28°C. The colonies produced pale orange conidial masses and were fusiform with acute ends, hyaline, sometimes guttulate, 4.02 to 5.25 × 13.71 to 15.72 μm (average = 4.56 ± 0.31 × 14.87 ± 1.14 μm, n = 25). The morphological characteristics and measurements of this fungal isolate matched the previous descriptions of Colletotrichum fioriniae (Marcelino & Gouli) R.G. Shivas & Y.P. Tan (2). Meanwhile, these characterizations were further confirmed by analysis of the partial sequence of five genes: the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) of the ribosomal DNA, beta-tubulin (β-tub) gene, glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) gene, chitin synthase 3(CHS-1) gene, and actin (ACT) gene, with universal primers ITS4/ITS5, T1/βt2b, GDF1/GDR1, CHS1-79F/CHS1-354R, and ACT-512F/ACT-783R, respectively (1). BLAST of these DNA sequences using the nucleotide database of GenBank showed a high identify (ITS, 99%; β-tub, 99%; GAPDH, 99%; CHS-1, 99%; and ACT, 100%) with the previously deposited sequences of C. fioriniae (ITS, KF278459.1, NR111747.1; β-tub, AB744079.1, AB690809.1; GAPDH, KF944355.1, KF944354.1; CHS-1, JQ948987.1, JQ949005.1; and ACT, JQ949625.1, JQ949626.1). Koch's postulates were fulfilled by inoculating six healthy 1-year-old walnut trees in July 2014 with maximum and minimum temperatures of 33 and 26°C. The 6-mm mycelial plug, which was cut from the margin of a 5-day-old colony of the fungus on PDA, was placed onto each pin-wounded leaf, ensuring good contact between the mycelium and the wound. Non-colonized PDA plugs were placed onto pin-wounds as negative controls. Following inoculation, both inoculated and control plants were covered with plastic bags. Leaf spots, similar to those on naturally infected plants, were observed on the leaves inoculated with C. fioriniae within 5 days. No symptoms were observed on the negative control leaves. Finally, C. fioriniae was re-isolated from symptomatic leaves; in contrast, no fungus was isolated from the control, which confirmed Koch's postulates. To our knowledge, this is the first report of leaf disease on walnut caused by C. fioriniae. References: (1) L. Cai et al. Fungal Divers. 39:183, 2009. (2) R. G. Shivas and Y. P. Tan. Fungal Divers. 39:111, 2009.


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