Peronospora monardae, Hyaloperonospora daughtreyae and H. iberidis: new species associated with downy mildew diseases affecting ornamental plants in the United States

Abstract

Species in the genera Hyaloperonospora and Peronospora (Oomycota, Peronosporaceae) are obligate biotrophic pathogens responsible for destructive downy mildew diseases of ornamental horticulture plants worldwide. Throughout the past decade, newly emergent downy mildew diseases have become increasingly prevalent, but often the identity of the pathogen is unknown or poorly defined. In this study we set out to identify the downy mildew pathogens infecting three widely grown ornamental plants: Agastache spp. (hyssops), Tarenaya hassleriana (syn. = Cleome hassleriana; spider-flower) and Monarda didyma (bee balm or bergamot). Phylogenetic analysis of the internal transcribed spacer rDNA and cox2 revealed two new species, which are described here as Peronospora monardae infecting both Monarda didyma and A. mexicana, and Hyaloperonospora daughtreyae infecting T. hassleriana. One sample of Peronospora collected from Agastache sp. ‘Bolero’ did not cluster with P. monardae, but its relationship to other species in the clade was not sufficiently resolved for taxonomic determination. Phylogenetic analysis also supported the combination of Peronospora iberidis, a pathogen of Iberis spp. (candytuft), into Hyaloperonospora. To assess intrasample ITS sequence variation from P. monardae, data were generated using high-throughput amplicon sequencing (HTAS). Multiple haplotypes were identified from the P. monardae samples, with less than 1% intrasample variation observed. From a core set of haplotypes shared across the HTAS the variant frequencies could not be completely explained by heterozygosity alone.