Vegetative Compatibility Groups and Aggressiveness of North American Isolates of Colletotrichum coccodes, the Causal Agent of Potato Black Dot.

Abstract

The vegetative compatibility of 123 isolates of Colletotrichum coccodes from North America (United States and Canada) originating from potato, tomato, pepper, and mint was tested using nitrate-nonutilizing (nit) mutants. The North American isolates did not anastomose with previously selected European/Israeli vegetative compatibility group (VCG) testers; therefore, eight isolates were selected as VCG testers for the North American population. The 123 isolates distributed to seven VCGs at 1.6, 1.6, 4.0, 8.1, 13.8, 19.5, and 36.6%, with 14.6% of the isolates not assigned to any of the seven VCGs. Among the North American (NA)-VCGs, the average frequency of the nit1/nit3 nit mutants was lower (P < 0.05) for isolates belonging to NA-VCG1 than for isolates belonging to the NA-VCGs 2, 3, and 5. In contrast, the frequency of NitM nit mutants did not vary (P > 0.05) among the NA-VCGs and was collectively 5.14%. The results also indicated significant (P < 0.05) differences among NA-VCGs and European/Israeli (EU/I)-VCGs regarding the frequency of nit mutants. The aggressiveness trials of the North American isolates to potato indicated that plants infected with isolates belonging to NA-VCG2 and NA-VCG5 had more (P < 0.05) sclerotia on the roots and crowns than plants infected with isolates belonging to NA-VCGs 1 and 3. The plants infected with isolates belonging to NA-VCG2 had sclerotia formed higher (P < 0.05) up the stem than the plants infected with isolates belonging to NA-VCGs 1, 3, or 5. The plants infected with isolates assigned to NA-VCG2 had more (P < 0.05) infected progeny tubers than the plants infected with isolates belonging to NA-VCGs 1, 3, or 5; and the plants infected with isolates belonging to NA-VCGs 1, 2, and 5 yielded fewer (P < 0.05) potato tubers than the noninoculated control plants. A naming system for the population of C. coccodes based on the continent source of the population, the VCG number, and the isolate's code was suggested.