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Abstract

Colletotrichum acutatum is major pathogen of fruit crops, causing economically important losses of temperate, subtropical and tropical fruits worldwide. However, few studies have been carried out on key aspects of its biology. This is mainly because traditionally isolates of C. acutatum were often wrongly identified as C. gloeosporioides. Effective separation of the two species was not possible until the introduction of molecular tools for taxonomy. The life cycle of C. acutatum comprises a sexual and an asexual stage and much remains to be resolved regarding the genetics of sexuality and the effects of the sexual stage on population structure. Colletotrichum acutatum exhibits both infection strategies described for Colletotrichum species, i.e. intracellular hemibiotrophy and subcuticular-intramural necrotrophy, and may also undergo a period of quiescence in order to overcome resistance mechanisms in immature fruit such as pre-formed toxic compounds and phytoalexins, or due to the unsuitability of unripe fruit to fulfill the nutritional and energy requirements of the pathogen. Colletotrichum acutatum may overwinter as mycelium and/or appressoria in or on different parts of the host. Conidia are water-born and spread by rain episodes so infections are usually highest during the wettest periods of the growing season. Current management strategies for this fungus comprise the exploitation of cultivar resistance, cultural, chemical, and biological control methods, and preventive strategies such as disease-forecasting models. This review focuses on the current knowledge of biological aspects of C. acutatum and related Colletotrichum species and includes a discussion of the progress towards their control.

Transcriptomic Analysis of Avocado Hass (Persea americana Mill) in the Interaction System Fruit-Chitosan-Colletotrichum

“…Thus, the development of the infection can be observed as the fruit ripens. However, in our experimental setting, we observed that at 1 h post inoculation, the fruit is highly resistant probably due to the presence of antifungal compounds (Table 2) (Yakoby et al, 2002; Wharton and Diéguez-Uribeondo, 2004; Prusky and Lichter, 2007). By contrast, in the presence of chitosan and the pathogen (QP), there is a strong defense response even at 24 h post-inoculation (Table 2).…”

Management of Post-Harvest Anthracnose: Current Approaches and Future Perspectives

“…With respect to fruit infection, the early stages of the interaction with host tissues are similar for all the Colletotrichum species [ 7 ]: conidiospores spread from infected vegetal material or through insects, adhere by means of a hemicellulosic mucilage to the external vegetal surface, germinate and infect often by mean of specialized structures, such as appressoria [ 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 ]. Infections can take place even by penetration through stomata, lenticels, wounds, or abscission of scar tissue [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 ].…”

An integrated approach to improve plant protection against olive anthracnose caused by the Colletotrichum acutatum species complex

“…The phenotypes of the obtained pure cultures of the isolates were documented, and hyphal and spore samples, when available, were microscopically examined. The tentative identification of the isolates was performed based on the phenotypic characteristics of the conidia and that of the cultures (shape, color and density of hyphae) using taxonomic keys [39].…”