Abstract
Strawberry anthracnose caused by Colletotrichum spp. is considered one of the most serious and destructive disease of strawberry worldwide. Weeds, as possible hosts of the pathogen, could have a role as potential inoculum reservoir. To prove this hypothesis, symptomless weeds were collected in strawberry fields showing anthracnose symptoms in Iran. Ten isolates with Colletotrichum-like colonies were recovered from symptomless Amaranthus viridis L., Convolvulus arvensis L., Fumaria officinalis L., Lactuca serriola L., and Sonchus oleraceus L. plants. The isolates were identified as C. nymphaeae, based on a combination of morphological and sequence data of TUB and GADPH genes. This identification was further validated using Rep-PCR fingerprinting analysis, which produces species-specific DNA fingerprints and unveils inter and intra variation of the species examined in this study. Moreover, rep-PCR marker was used to reveal accurate taxonomic position of Colletorichum spp. causing strawberry anthracnose belonging to the C. acutatum complex, including C. acutatum sensu stricto, C. fiorinae, C. godetiae, C. nymphaeae, C. salicis, and C. simmondsii. The C. nymphaeae isolates originating from symptomless weeds confirmed their pathogenicity on detached strawberry, proving that weeds in strawberry field may have a role as reservoir of inoculum. However, further studies are necessary to quantify their actual contribution to anthracnose epidemics in strawberry fields.
Highlights
Colletotrichum spp. are among the most widespread and destructive phytopathogenic fungi worldwide
Anthracnose, the main disease symptom caused by these fungal pathogens, was initially used to name the destructive disease of strawberry caused by Colletotrichum fragariae Brooks (Howard et al, 1992)
These isolates were obtained from the leaves of asymptomatic plants of Amaranthus viridis L., Convolvulus arvensis L., Fumaria officinalis L., Lactuca serriola L. and Sonchus oleraceus L
Summary
Colletotrichum spp. are among the most widespread and destructive phytopathogenic fungi worldwide The inclusion of these species among the top 10 fungal pathogens indicates their economic importance and justifies the interest of scientists (Dean et al, 2012). Three species C. acutatum, C. gloeosporioides and C. fragariae, are commonly indicated as the causal agents of anthracnose on strawberry (Howard et al, 1992; Freeman and Katan, 1997). The advent of new molecular approaches, such as multigene approach in fungal taxonomy, combined with traditional diagnostic methods (polyphasic approach), revealed that C. acutatum and C. gloeosporioides are complex species, comprising several species causing anthracnose symptoms on strawberry (Damm et al, 2012a; Weir et al, 2012; Karimi et al, 2017). Various studies proved that this molecular marker is capable to provide the fingerprinting of eukaryotic genomes, including fungi (Mehta et al, 2002; Godoy et al, 2004; Alves et al, 2007)
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