Colletotrichum is a cosmopolitan, anamorphic fungal genus responsible for anthracnose disease in hundreds of plant species worldwide, including members of the Poaceae. Anthracnose disease of the widely planted, non-native, warm-season lawn grass, Eremochloae ophiuroides (centipedegrass), is commonly encountered in the southern United States, but the causal agent has never been identified. We use DNA sequence data from modern cultures and archival fungarium specimens in this study to determine the identity of the fungus responsible for centipedegrass anthracnose disease and provide experimental confirmation of pathogenicity. C. eremochloae sp. nov., a pathogen of centipedegrass, is proposed based on phylogenetic evidence from four sequence markers (Apn2, Apn2/ Mat1, Sod2, ITS). C. eremochloae isolates from centipedegrass shared common morphology and phenotype with C. sublineola, a destructive pathogen of cultivated sorghum and Johnsongrass weeds (Sorghum halepense, S. vulgaris). Molecular phylogenetic analysis identified C. eremochloae and C. sublineola as closely related sister taxa, but genealogical concordance supported their distinction as unique phylogenetic species. Fixed nucleotide differences between C. eremochloae and C. sublineola were observed from collections of these fungi spanning 105 y, including the 1904 lectotype specimen of C. sublineola. C. eremochloae was identified from a fungarium specimen of centipedegrass intercepted at a USA port from a 1923 Chinese shipment; the multilocus sequence from this specimen was identical to modern samples of the fungus. Thus, it appears that the fungus might have migrated to the USA around the same time that centipedegrass first was introduced to the USA in 1916 from China, where the grass is indigenous. The new species C. eremochloae is described and illustrated, along with a description and discussion of C. sublineola based on the lectotype and newly designated epitype.

Frogeye leaf spot, caused by Cercospora sojina Hara, is a foliar disease affecting soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.), often managed by applications of quinone outside inhibitor (QoI) fungicides. In 2013 and 2014, 634 C. sojina monoconidial isolates were collected from soybean fields throughout Mississippi. Initially, in vitro bioassays were performed to evaluate the sensitivity of 14 of 634 isolates plus a baseline. Resistant and sensitive isolates were characterized by determining the effective fungicide concentrations at which 50% of conidial germination was inhibited (EC50). The molecular mechanism of resistance was determined for all 634 isolates, using a PCR-RFLP method and comparing nucleotide sequences of the cytochrome b gene. The state of Mississippi was divided into five distinct geographical regions (the Hills, Delta, Pines, Capital, and Coast) based on estimates of total soybean hectares. The greatest proportion (16.7%) of QoI-sensitive isolates was collected in the Hills while the Coast had no QoI-sensitive isolates. QoI-sensitive isolates from the Pines, Capital, and Delta ranged from 1.6 to 7.0%. Results of this study determined that more than 93% of C. sojina isolates collected in Mississippi carried the G143A amino acid substitution, indicating a shift to a QoI-resistant population throughout Mississippi soybean fields.

Nine new tetranorditerpenoid dilactones (2-10), together with two previously reported norditerpenoids dilactones (1, 11), and two known putative biosynthetic intermediates oidiolactone-E (12) and 13 were isolated from an ethyl acetate extract of a culture medium of Sclerotinia homoeocarpa. Structures and absolute configuration of these compounds were determined by spectroscopic methods and confirmed by X-ray crystallographic analysis of representative compounds. Compounds were evaluated for herbicidal, antiplasmodial and cytotoxic activities. Compounds 1, 2, 6, 7, 11 were more active as growth inhibitors in a duckweed bioassay (I 50 values of 0.39 -0.95 µM) than more than half of 26 commercial herbicides previously evaluated using the same bioassay. Some of these compounds exhibited strong antiplasmodial activities as well, but they also had cytotoxic activity thus precluding them as potential antimalarial agents.Malaria continues to be a major cause of morbidity and mortality in many parts of the tropics and subtropics. Every year about 500 million people become ill with malaria and over a million people, most of them young children, die of this disease. 1 Wide-spread resistance to first-line antimalarial drugs has hampered the effective control of this disease. Many efforts are underway to develop new classes of antimalarials to counter this trend. 2 One of these involves searching for compounds to inhibit unique metabolic pathways in the apicoplast. 2,3 Plasmodium parasites, which cause malaria in humans, contain an organelle called the apicoplast. 4 The apicoplast is very similar to plastids (chloroplasts are one of several plastid forms) of plants and is believed to have been acquired by the engulfment of an ancestral alga and retention of the algal plastid. The apicoplast is essential for the survival of parasites, and it contains many plant-like metabolic pathways such as essential amino acid, heme, and type *To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel.: 1-662-915-1019. Fax: 1-662-915-1006. dhammika@olemiss.edu . NIH Public AccessAuthor Manuscript J Nat Prod. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2010 December 1. NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author ManuscriptII fatty acid biosynthesis not present in the vertebrate hosts of malaria parasites. 4 Several studies have been initiated to evaluate antimalarial activity of herbicides and natural phytotoxins which are known to inhibit metabolic pathways of the plastid in plants. 5 -7 A number of plant pathogenic fungi are known to release phytotoxins that disrupt biological processes in plants. [8][9][10] Some of these have also been shown to inhibit metabolic pathways in the plastid; 11 thus, plant pathogens could be a potential source of antimalarial compounds.As part of a program to search for antimalarial compounds from natural sources, we initiated a project to screen phytopathogenic fungi for antimalarial activity. Sclerotinia homoeocarpa is the causal agent of "dollar spot," the most prevalent disease of turfgrass in...

Traditional hollow-tine (HT) aerification programs can cause substantial damage to the putting green surface resulting in prolonged recovery. Despite the growing interest in new and alternative aerification technology, there is a lack of information in the literature comparing new or alternative technology with traditional methods on ultradwarf bermudagrass [Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers. × C. transvaalensis (Burtt-Davy)] putting greens. Therefore, the objective of this research was to determine the best combination of dry-injection (DI) cultivation technology with modified traditional HT aerification programs to achieve minimal surface disruption without a compromise in soil physical properties. Research was conducted at the Mississippi State University golf course practice putting green from 1 June to 31 Aug. 2014 and 2015. Treatments included two HT sizes (0.6 and 1.3 cm diameter), various DI cultivation frequencies applied with a DryJect 4800, and a noncultivated control. The HT 1.3 cm diameter tine size had 76% greater water infiltration (7.6 cm depth) compared with the DI + HT 0.6 cm diameter tine size treatment. However, DI + HT 0.6 cm diameter tine size had greater water infiltration at the 10.1 cm depth than the noncultivated control. Results suggest a need for an annual HT aerification event due to reduced water infiltration and increased volumetric water content (VWC) in the noncultivated control treatment. It can be concluded that DI would be best used in combination with HT 1.3 or 0.6 cm diameter tine sizes to improve soil physical properties; however, the DI + HT 0.6 cm diameter tine size treatment resulted in minimum surface disruption while still improving soil physical properties compared with the noncultivated control.

Dollar spot is one of the most common diseases of golf course turfgrass and numerous fungicide applications are often required to provide adequate control. Weather-based disease warning systems have been developed to more accurately time fungicide applications; however, they tend to be ineffective and are not currently in widespread use. The primary objective of this research was to develop a new weather-based disease warning system to more accurately advise fungicide applications to control dollar spot activity across a broad geographic and climactic range. The new dollar spot warning system was developed from data collected at field sites in Madison, WI and Stillwater, OK in 2008 and warning system validation sites were established in Madison, WI, Stillwater, OK, Knoxville, TN, State College, PA, Starkville, MS, and Storrs, CT between 2011 and 2016. A meta-analysis of all site-years was conducted and the most effective warning system for dollar spot development consisted of a five-day moving average of relative humidity and average daily temperature. Using this model the highest effective probability that provided dollar spot control similar to that of a calendar-based program across the numerous sites and years was 20%. Additional analysis found that the 20% spray threshold provided comparable control to the calendar-based program while reducing fungicide usage by up to 30%, though further refinement may be needed as practitioners implement this warning system in a range of environments not tested here. The weather-based dollar spot warning system presented here will likely become an important tool for implementing precision disease management strategies for future turfgrass managers, especially as financial and regulatory pressures increase the need to reduce pesticide usage on golf course turfgrass.