Abstract
Ageratina adenophora is one of the most invasive weeds in China. Following an outbreak in Yunnan in the 1960s, A. adenophora has been spreading in Southwest China at tremendous speed. Previous research indicated A. adenophora contained many Colletotrichum species as endophytes. In this study, we investigated the diversity of Colletotrichum in healthy and diseased leaves of the invasive plant A. adenophora and several surrounding crops in Yunnan, Guangxi, and Guizhou provinces in China, and obtained over 1000 Colletotrichum strains. After preliminary delimitation using the internal transcribed spacer region (ITS) sequences, 44 representative strains were selected for further study. Their phylogenetic positions were determined by phylogenetic analyses using combined sequences of ITS, actin (ACT), chitin synthase (CHS-1), glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), and beta-tubulin (TUB2). Combined with morphological characteristics, 14 new Colletotrichum species were named as C. adenophorae, C. analogum, C. cangyuanense, C. dimorphum, C. gracile, C. nanhuaense, C. nullisetosum, C. oblongisporum, C. parvisporum, C. robustum, C. simulanticitri, C. speciosum, C. subhenanense, and C. yunajiangense.
Highlights
Foliar fungal endophytes are defined as fungi that can colonize the internal plant leaf structure without causing apparent harm to the aerial parts of the host [1]
These fungi phylogenetically span at least four phyla [3] and are categorized into two groups based on their manner of transmission: vertically transmitted endophytes (VTEs, e.g., Neotyphodium Glenn et al.) that inhabit temperate grasses (Lolium L.) and are transmitted from the mother plant [4] and horizontally transmitted endophytes (HTEs) transmitted mostly via spores from plant to plant via rain, wind, local leaf litter, or insect vectors [5,6]
Because a plant can be colonized by endophytic fungi that originate from a neighbor or by spores that persist in the local environment, it is not surprising that endophyte communities found in the same plant host species can show striking geographical differences [6]
Summary
Foliar fungal endophytes are defined as fungi that can colonize the internal plant leaf structure without causing apparent harm to the aerial parts of the host [1]. It has been shown that particular Colletotrichum endophytes confer protective benefits on cacao hosts by reducing disease incidence and damage caused by other plant pathogens [40,41,42], in this case, there is a possible ecological risk of disease transmission to local plants driven by A. adenophora invasion. We investigated the diversity of Colletotrichum in healthy and diseased leaves of invasive plant A. adenophora and several surrounding crops in Yunnan, Guangxi, and Guizhou Provinces in China, and obtained over 1000 Colletotrichum strains. Because the Colletotrichum genus is one of the most important pathogenic fungi [35], our finding is valuable for understanding the possible disease risk driven by invasive plants in the invaded ecosystem
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