High diversity of Diaporthe species associated with dieback diseases in China, with twelve new species described.

Qin Yang,Xin-Lei Fan,Vladimiro Guarnaccia,Cheng-Ming Tian

doi:10.3897/mycokeys.39.26914

Qin Yang, Xin-Lei Fan + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3897/mycokeys.39.26914

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Abstract

Diaporthe species have often been reported as important plant pathogens, saprobes and endophytes on a wide range of plant hosts. Although several Diaporthe species have been recorded in China, little is known about species able to infect forest trees. Therefore, extensive surveys were recently conducted in Beijing, Heilongjiang, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shaanxi and Zhejiang Provinces. The current results emphasised on 15 species from 42 representative isolates involving 16 host genera using comparisons of DNA sequence data for the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS), calmodulin (cal), histone H3 (his3), partial translation elongation factor-1α (tef1) and β-tubulin (tub2) gene regions, as well as their morphological features. Three known species, D.biguttulata, D.eres and D.unshiuensis, were identified. In addition, twelve novel taxa were collected and are described as D.acerigena, D.alangii, D.betulina, D.caryae, D.cercidis, D.chensiensis, D.cinnamomi, D.conica, D.fraxinicola, D.kadsurae, D.padina and D.ukurunduensis. The current study improves the understanding of species causing diebacks on ecological and economic forest trees and provides useful information for the effective disease management of these hosts in China.

Highlights

IntroductionThe genus Diaporthe Nitschke represents a cosmopolitan group of fungi occupying diverse ecological behaviour as plant pathogens, endophytes and saprobes (Muralli et al 2006, Rossman et al 2007, Garcia-Reyne et al 2011, Udayanga et al 2011, 2012a, b, 2014a, b, 2015, Gomes et al 2013, Fan et al 2015, Du et al 2016, Dissanayake et al 2017b, Guarnaccia and Crous 2017, Yang et al 2017a, b, 2018, Guarnaccia et al 2018, Marin-Felix et al 2018)
The current study described 15 Diaporthe species from 42 strains based on a large set of freshly collected specimens
It includes 12 new species and 3 known species, which were sampled from 16 host genera distributed over six Provinces of China (Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

The genus Diaporthe Nitschke represents a cosmopolitan group of fungi occupying diverse ecological behaviour as plant pathogens, endophytes and saprobes (Muralli et al 2006, Rossman et al 2007, Garcia-Reyne et al 2011, Udayanga et al 2011, 2012a, b, 2014a, b, 2015, Gomes et al 2013, Fan et al 2015, Du et al 2016, Dissanayake et al 2017b, Guarnaccia and Crous 2017, Yang et al 2017a, b, 2018, Guarnaccia et al 2018, Marin-Felix et al 2018). Diaporthe species are responsible for diseases on a wide range of plant hosts, including agricultural crops, forest trees and ornamentals, some of which are economically important Several symptoms such as root and fruit rots, dieback, stem cankers, leaf spots, leaf and pod blights and seed decay are caused by Diaporthe spp. D. ampelina, the causal agent of Phomopsis cane and leaf spot, is known as a severe pathogen of grapevines (Hewitt and Pearson 1988), infecting all green tissues and causing yield reductions of up to 30% in temperate regions (Erincik et al 2001) Diaporthe citri is another well-known pathogen exclusively found on Citrus spp. causing melanose, stem-end rot and gummosis in all the citrus production areas except Europe (Mondal et al 2007, Udayanga et al 2014a, Guarnaccia and Crous 2017, 2018). Stem canker, attributed to several Diaporthe spp., is one of the most important diseases of sunflower (Helianthus annuus) worldwide (Muntañola-Cvetković et al 1981, Thompson et al 2011)

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