Identification of Hymenoscyphus fraxineus, the causal agent of ash dieback in Slovakia

Biologia ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 70 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Katarína Adamčíková ◽  
Miriam Kádasi-Horáková ◽  
Libor Jankovský ◽  
Ludmila Havrdová

AbstractSymptoms of ash dieback have been recorded in Slovakia since 2004. The field sampling was carried out in 2013, included 59 segments of shoots and 10 and more petioles per locality from four localities. The causal agent of ash dieback, the hyphomycete Chalara fraxinea T. Kowalski, was isolated from Fraxinus excelsior L. from seven localities in Slovakia. The morphology of C. fraxinea isolates and the teleomorph Hymenoscyphus fraxineus (T. Kowalski) Baral, Queloz, Hosoya are described and ITS sequences are provided.

2009 ◽  
Vol 45 (No. 2) ◽  
pp. 74-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Jankovský ◽  
O. Holdenrieder

The causal agent of ash dieback, the hyphomycete <I>Chalara fraxinea</I>, was isolated from a <I> Fraxinus excelsior</I> cv. Pendula tree, in the Arboretum Křtiny between Křtiny and Jedovnice in Drahany Highland, and subsequently from several other locations in South Moravia in the Czech Republic. The infection was associated with severe twig dieback and symptoms of ash dieback were observed in many locations across the Czech Republic. The morphology of<I> C. fraxinea</I> is described and an ITS sequence is provided. <I>Hymenoscyphus albidus</I>, the teleomorph of <I>C. fraxinea</I>, is known as a quit common species from precedent mycofloristic studies provided in different areas in the Czech Republic.


2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Muñoz ◽  
B. Marçais ◽  
J. Dufour ◽  
A. Dowkiw

AbstractSince the early 1990s, ash dieback due to the invasive ascomycete Hymenoscyphus fraxineus is threatening Fraxinus excelsior in most of its natural range. Previous studies reported significant levels of genetic variability for susceptibility in F. excelsior either in field or inoculation experiments. The present study was based on a field experiment planted in 1995, fifteen years before onset of the disease. Crown and collar status were monitored on 788 trees from 23 open-pollinated progenies originating from 3 French provenances. Susceptibility was modeled using a Bayesian approach where spatio-temporal effects were explicitly taken into account. Moderate narrow-sense heritability was found for Crown Dieback (CD, h2=0.42). This study is first to show that Collar Lesions are also heritable (h2=0.49 for prevalence and h2=0.42 for severity) and that there is significant genetic correlation (r=0.40) between the severities of both symptoms. There was no evidence for differences between Provenances. Family effects were detected, but computing Individual Breeding Values (IBV) showed that most of the genetic variation lies within families. In agreement with previous reports, early flushing correlates with better crown status. Consequences of these results in terms of management and breeding are discussed.


2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim L. R. Coker ◽  
Jiří Rozsypálek ◽  
Anne Edwards ◽  
Tony P. Harwood ◽  
Louise Butfoy ◽  
...  

2016 ◽  
Vol 106 (12) ◽  
pp. 1535-1543 ◽  
Author(s):  
Facundo Muñoz ◽  
Benoît Marçais ◽  
Jean Dufour ◽  
Arnaud Dowkiw

Since the early 1990s, ash dieback due to the invasive ascomycete Hymenoscyphus fraxineus is threatening Fraxinus excelsior in most of its natural range. Previous studies reported significant levels of genetic variability in susceptibility in F. excelsior either in field or inoculation experiments. The present study was based on a field experiment planted in 1995, 15 years before onset of the disease. Crown and collar status were monitored on 777 trees from 23 open-pollinated progenies originating from three French provenances. Health status was modeled using a Bayesian approach where spatiotemporal effects were explicitly taken into account. Moderate narrow-sense heritability was found for crown dieback (h2 = 0.42). This study is first to show that resistance at the collar level is also heritable (h2 = 0.49 for collar lesions prevalence and h2 = 0.42 for their severity) and that there is significant genetic correlation (r = 0.40) between the severities of crown and collar symptoms. There was no evidence for differences between provenances. Family effects were detected, but computing individual breeding values showed that most of the genetic variation lies within families. In agreement with previous reports, early flushing correlates with healthier crown. Implications of these results in disease management and breeding are discussed.


Author(s):  
Stefan Klesse ◽  
Georg von Arx ◽  
Martin M Gossner ◽  
Christian Hug ◽  
Andreas Rigling ◽  
...  

Abstract Since the 1990s the invasive fungus Hymenoscyphus fraxineus has caused severe crown dieback and high mortality rates in Fraxinus excelsior in Europe. In addition to a strong genetic control of tolerance to the fungus, previous studies have found landscape heterogeneity to be an additional driver of variability in the severity of dieback symptoms. However, apart from climatic conditions related to heat and humidity influencing fungal infection success, the mechanistic understanding of why smaller or slower-growing trees are more susceptible to dieback remains less well understood. Here, we analyzed three stands in Switzerland with a unique setting of 8 years of data availability of intra-annual diameter growth and annual crown health assessments. We complemented this by ring width and quantitative wood anatomical measurements extending back before the monitoring started to investigate if wood anatomical adjustments can help better explain the size-related dieback phenomenon. We found that slower-growing trees or trees with smaller crowns already before the arrival of the fungus were more susceptible to dieback and mortality. Defoliation directly reduced growth as well as maximum earlywood vessel size, and the positive relationship between vessel size and growth rate caused a positive feedback amplifying and accelerating crown dieback. Measured non-structural carbohydrate (NSC) concentrations in the outermost five rings did not significantly vary between healthy and weakened trees, which translate into large differences in absolute available amount of NSCs. Thus, we hypothesize that a lack of NSCs (mainly sugars) leads to lower turgor pressure and smaller earlywood vessels in the following year. This might impede efficient water transport and photosynthesis, and be responsible for stronger symptoms of dieback and higher mortality rates in smaller and slower-growing trees.


Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 883
Author(s):  
Benedetto T. Linaldeddu ◽  
Francesco Bottecchia ◽  
Carlo Bregant ◽  
Lucia Maddau ◽  
Lucio Montecchio

In Italy, after the first report in Friuli-Venezia Giulia along the border with Slovenia in 2009, ash dieback has successively been reported in Veneto, Tuscany and Trentino-Alto Adige. Given its alarming expansion in European ash formations along the sub-montane belt of north-eastern Italy and the limited information about the associated fungal microorganisms; since 2017, a study has been conducted in order to isolate and characterize the fungal species involved in the aetiology of the disease. The surveys were conducted in six ash–maple forests distributed along the Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia pre-Alpine regions (Italy). In each site, the health status of ash trees was assessed and a sample (shoot or branch) with the typical symptoms of the disease was taken from ten trees to isolate the associated pathogens. The fungal colonies developed were identified using morphological features and DNA sequences. The 60 samples processed yielded a total of 109 fungal isolates belonging to 9 families including: Botryosphaeriaceae (62 isolates), Diaporthaceae (18), Nectriaceae (10), Didymellaceae (9), Helotiaceae (5), Diatrypaceae (2), Didymosphaeriaceae (1), Phaeosphaeriaceae (1) and Valsaceae (1). In particular, three species—Diplodia subglobosa, Diplodia fraxini and Diaporthe eres—were isolated with high frequency, while Hymenoscyphus fraxineus was isolated from only five plants distributed in four sites. The pathogenicity tests, conducted on 3-year-old seedlings, detached branches (3–4 cm diameter), and leaves of Fraxinus excelsior, showed that Diplodia fraxini is the most virulent species and the only one able to reproduce the symptoms observed in nature. Overall, the results obtained emphasize that several fungal pathogens are involved in the aetiology of the disease, many of which belong to the Botryosphaeriaceae family.


2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-51
Author(s):  
Dmitrii A. Shabunin ◽  
Andrey V. Selikhovkin ◽  
Elena Yu. Varentsova ◽  
Dmitry L. Musolin

Abstract The weakening and decline of European ash Fraxinus excelsior L. and other ash species have been recorded at different locations in the suburbs of Saint Petersburg, Russia. During the summer of 2019 and spring of 2020, samples from leaves, petioles, and shoots were collected from the weakened and declining ash trees in three parks in Pushkin and Gatchina and maintained in humid chambers to induce the fructification of fungi. In total, 30 taxa of micromycetes belonging to 23 genera were identified using methods of light microscopy. Hymenoscyphus fraxineus, a putative agent of ash dieback, was not recorded in the samples collected in the crowns of trees, but only on the petioles of the fallen leaves in spring. Out of all the micromycetes recorded, only coelomycetes from the genus Diplodia Fr. (in particular, D. mutila) can damage the branches of ash trees and, thus, be considered pathogenic. It is likely that H. fraxineus opens “the entry of infection” and Diplodia spp. cause the major weakening and decline of branches. The data obtained can significantly change our understanding of the causes of ash dieback and possible methods of ash stand preservation. The reason for the low pathogenicity and activity of H. fraxineus, as well as the possible role of ascomycetes Diplodia spp. in the dieback of ash stands requires further research.


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