Identification and phylogenetic analysis of the pathogen of jute anthracnose in China

Abstract

<p id="C3">Anthracnose is a major fungal disease that seriously affects the yield and quality in jute fiber. Identifying the types of anthracnose pathogens and determining their pathogenicity will help jute disease-resistant breeding and develop elite disease-resistant gene resources. The 92 strains were isolated and purified from samples of diseased jute, which were collected from 7 jute production areas including Fuzhou and Zhangzhou in Fujian Province, Xinyang City in Henan Province, Liu’an City in Anhui Province, Hangzhou City in Zhejiang Province, Nanning City in Guangxi Province, and Changsha City in Hunan Province. The sequence analysis of the rDNA-ITS region showed that 11 out of the 92 strains were typical anthracnose pathogens. Further identification of the phylogenetic tree of the LSU region and morphological characteristics revealed that 10 strains, including ZZ4 and GX19, were <italic>Colletotrichum gloeosporioides</italic>, while the strain of CS3 was <italic>Colletotrichum dematium</italic>. The pathogenicity test of artificial inoculation indicated that there was a significant difference in pathogenicity between <italic>Colletotrichum gloeosporioides</italic> and <italic>Colletotrichum dematium</italic>. These results laid a basis for identification of resistance gene loci and effective controlling of anthracnose in jute.