Pointed gourd is an important tropical high value vegetable crop, which is mainly affected by fruit and vine rot disease in field conditions. Causal organism of this devastating disease is Phytophthora melonis as revealed through morphological criteria as well as by molecular tools based on the restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) of non-coding Internal Transcriber Spacer (ITS) region and ITS sequencing. Sequencing of ITS region of our Ph. melonis isolate has 100% similarity with the five isolates of GenBank including a Ph. sinensis. The pathogen, Ph. melonis, is a new report from India and as regards host ranges a possible new report globally.www.blackwell-synergy.com

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Molecular identification of the Phytophthora spp. affecting betelvine (Piper betel), brinjal (Solanum melongena), guava (Psidium guajava), roselle (Hibiscus subdariffa), black pepper (Piper nigrum), sesame (Sesamum indicum), taro (Colocasia esculenta), chilli (Capsicum annuum), pointed gourd (Trichosanthes dioica), papaya (Carica papaya) was performed through rDNA ITS-RFLP and also additionally by sequencing the Internal Transcriber spacer (ITS) ITS1 and ITS2 regions. Phytophthora nicotianae, Phytophthora capsici, Phytophthora colocasiae, Phytophthora melonis and Phytophthora palmivora isolates from these 10 different crops were accessioned and the ITS sequences were deposited in Genbank. ITS sequences for Phytophthora isolates from most of these crops are being reported here for the first time. In this study, a review of all earlier Indian reports based on morphology from the above crops and their molecular corroboration has been attempted. This study revealed that not only is P. nicotianae the most prevalent species but also there is the presence of both P. nicotianae and P. capsici, but not P. palmivora on betelvine; as well as possible first reports of P. nicotianae on pepper, P. capsici on chilli and P. palmivora on papaya from this vegetable growing Eastern region of the country. Mating type assays and RAPD markers were used to assess the genotypic diversity of the population. This detection of diversity is a first and critical step for helping to devise and adopt strategies for control and quarantine of these pathogens in this region.

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