Sporulation rate in culture and mycoparasitic activity, but not mycohost specificity, are the key factors for selecting Ampelomyces strains for biocontrol of grapevine powdery mildew (Erysiphe necator) To develop a new biofungicide product against grapevine powdery mildew, caused by Erysiphe necator, cultural characteristics and mycoparasitic activities of pre-selected strains of Ampelomyces spp. were compared in laboratory tests to the commercial strain AQ10. Then a two-year experiment was performed in five vineyards with a selected strain, RS1-a, and the AQ10 strain. This consisted of autumn sprays in vineyards as the goal was to reduce the number of chasmothecia of E. necator, and, thus, the amount of overwintering inocula, instead of targeting the conidial stage of the pathogen during spring and summer. This is a yet little explored strategy to manage E. necator in vinyeards. Laboratory tests compared the growth and sporulation of colonies of a total of 33 strains in culture; among these, eight strains with superior characteristics were compared to the commercial product AQ10 Biofungicide® in terms of their intra-hyphal spread, pycnidial production, and reduction of both asexual and sexual reproduction in E. necator colonies. Mycoparasitic activities of the eight strains Powered by Editorial Manager® and ProduXion Manager® from Aries Systems Corporationisolated from six different powdery mildew species, including E. necator, did not depend on their mycohost species of origin. Strain RS1-a, isolated from rose powdery mildew, showed, together with three strains from E. necator, the highest rate of parasitism of E. necator chasmothecia. In field experiments, both strains AQ10 and RS1-a, applied twice in autumn, significantly delayed and reduced early-season development of grapevine powdery mildew in the next year. Therefore, instead of mycohost specificity of Ampelomyces presumed in some works, but not confirmed by this study, the high sporulation rate in culture and the mycoparasitic patterns became the key factors for proposing strain RS1-a for further development as a biocontrol agent of E. necator.Response to Reviewers: Our replies and reactions to the Guest Editor's comments are included in a file uploaded as 'REPLY to Reviewers 9 Dec 2015.doc'.All the changes done in the revised (EJPP-D-15-00371_R1) submission are shown with 'track changes' in a file uploaded as 'Ampelo_screening_second revision WITH CHANGES.doc'. The second revised ('_R2') version uploaded today in the EJPP system is exactly this document after accepting all the 'track changes'. Powered by Editorial Manager® and ProduXion Manager® from Aries Systems CorporationSporulation rate in culture and mycoparasitic activity, but not To develop a new biofungicide product against grapevine powdery mildew, caused by 27Erysiphe necator, cultural characteristics and mycoparasitic activities of pre-selected strains 28 of Ampelomyces spp. were compared in laboratory tests to the commercial strain AQ10. Then 29 a two-year experiment was performed in five ...

This is the first study, which quantitatively assesses motor performance of patients with epilepsy on chronic valproate therapy. The results suggest significant irregularity of repetitive hand movements and finger tapping even in patients with no motor complaints. Objective methods might help to recognize valproate-induced motor performance deterioration.

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