Abstract
Fusarium spp. belong to the division Ascomycota and cause important plant diseases; these fungi may contaminate food products with mycotoxins, endangering human and animal health. Several Fusarium spp. have been associated with potato dry rot. The most frequent and devastating of these species are F. sambucinum, F. solani and F. oxysporum, depending on the geographic location and the season. Samples of potato tubers with dry rot symptoms were collected, and their putative fungal isolates were identified as Fusarium species using partial nucleotide sequences of the internal transcribed spacer, translation elongation factor 1-α and β-tubulin genes. Among 149 isolates, 12 species were identified. F. oxysporum was the most frequent (45 % of the isolates), followed by F. avenaceum (12.1 %), F. solani (10.7 %) and F. sambucinum (7.4 %). Phylogenetic analyses confirmed the species identifications and revealed a high diversity of F. solani and a low diversity of F. oxysporum. Potential producers of zearalenone and trichothecenes were identified within the obtained isolates using PCR markers. Isolates that were pathogenic to potatoes in laboratory tests were found in four species: F. sambucinum, F. avenaceum, F. culmorum, and F. graminearum. The effects of increased temperature and mixed inoculum on the pathogenicities of chosen species were evaluated. This study adds 434 potato-derived Fusarium sequences to the NCBI GenBank database and demonstrates that the list of Fusarium species and mycotoxins present in potato tubers may be richer than previously believed, regardless of whether these species cause dry rot or live as saprophytes.
Highlights
Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is a member of the Solanaceae family and is a highly nutritious crop grown worldwide
Though the translation elongation factor 1-α (TEF) sequences of M87A and M115 isolates shared around 92 % similarity with an F. virguliformae isolate, these findings found no confirmation in either ITS or bTUB sequences
The most diversified Fusarium population was in Zamarte, where nine Fusarium spp. were found, whereas only four species were identified in Chwałowice
Summary
Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is a member of the Solanaceae family and is a highly nutritious crop grown worldwide. In 2013, over 376 million tons of potatoes were produced worldwide (FAOSTAT 2014) and stored for various lengths of time to provide a continuous supply of this staple food to consumers and industry. During long-term storage, potato tubers are vulnerable to many diseases. Possible injuries to the potato skin during harvesting can lead to, among other problems, potato dry rot, a disease caused by species of the genus Fusarium (Nelson et al 1981). Dry rot, characterized by variously coloured cavities and hard, wrinkled skin, causes yield losses of up to 60 % during storage (Theron 1991), with average losses of 6 to 25 % (Chełkowski 1989)
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