Abstract
Botryosphaeriaceous fungi cause stem blight, canker and dieback in woody plants. During a survey on the fungal pathogens associated with blueberries in China, 135 blighted, cankered or dead blueberry branches were collected from Fujian and Shandong Provinces. Based on the morphological characterization and phylogenetic analyses of a concatenated ITS rDNA, tef1-α, TUB, and RPB2 loci, five new species of Lasiodiplodia, viz., L. clavispora, L. fujianensis, L. henanica, L. nanpingensis and L. paraphysoides were recognized. Detailed descriptions and illustrations, as well as multigene phylogenies, are provided in this paper. The diversity of plant pathogens on agriculturally and economically important plants is higher than anticipated.
Highlights
Blueberries (Vaccinium spp.) are perennial shrub fruit trees
In Florida, the blueberry stem blight and dieback caused by Neofusicoccum ribis and Lasiodiplodia theobromae led to huge economic losses and were one of the most severe diseases in the local blueberry planting industry [8,9,28]
We recovered five new species of Lasiodiplodia associated with stem blight and/or canker of blueberries, namely, L. clavispora, L. fujianensis, L. henanica, L. nanpingensis and L. paraphysoides, and they were characterized in terms of their morphology and their phylogenetic relationships to other species of Lasiodiplodia
Summary
Blueberries (Vaccinium spp.) are perennial shrub fruit trees. The fruits are well known and are widely consumed for their protective properties against heart diseases and cancer, they can help to maintain bone strength and mental health and can regulate blood pressure [1]. Botryosphaeriaceous fungi are a group of economically important plant pathogens [17,18,19,20] They cause stem blight, canker or dieback in a wide range of hosts, including blueberries [8,9,11,15,21,22,23,24,25]. Many more botryosphaeriaceous species have been reported to cause blueberry stem dieback or canker worldwide, such as Botryosphaeria corticis, Lasiodiplodia mediterranea, L. pseudotheobromae, Macrophomina phaseolina, Neofusicoccum arbuti, N. austral, N. kwambonambiense, N. macroclavatum, N. occulatum and N. ribis [7,8,9,15,29,31,32,33,34]. It was noticed that botryosphaeriaceous fungi cause blueberry stem blight or dieback in eight provinces in China, and three species were recognized: Botryosphaeria dothidea, Lasiodiplodia theobromae and Neofusicoccum parvum [11]. A concatenated DNA dataset from ITS rDNA and tef1-α, TUB, and RPB2 loci have been analyzed, and the phylogenetic relationships of these novel species have been established
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