Characterization of Pathogenic and Nonpathogenic Fusarium oxysporum Isolates Associated with Commercial Tomato Crops in the Andean Region of Colombia

Abstract

In Colombia, tomato production under protected conditions represents an important economic contribution to the agricultural sector. Fusarium wilt diseases, caused by pathogenic formae speciales of the soil-borne fungus Fusarium oxysporum Schltdl., cause significant yield losses in tomatoes throughout the world. Investigation of the F. oxysporum–tomato pathosystem in Colombia is required to develop appropriate alternative disease management. In this study, 120 fungal isolates were obtained from four different departments in the Central Andean Region in Colombia from tomato crops with symptoms of wilt disease. A molecular characterization of the fungal isolates was performed using the SIX1, SIX3, and SIX4 effector genes of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici W.C. Snyder & H.N. Hansen (Fol). Additionally, we developed a new specific marker to distinguish between Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. radicis-lycopersici Jarvis & Shoemaker (Forl) and Fol isolates. Furthermore, a phylogenetic analysis using the Translation Elongation Factor 1-alpha (EF1a) gene was performed with the collected isolates. Two isolates (named Fol59 and Fol-UDC10) were identified as Fol race 2, four isolates were identified as Forl, six isolates were identified as F. solani, and most of the isolates were grouped within the F. oxysporum species complex. The phylogenetic tree of EF1a showed that most of the isolates could potentially correspond to nonpathogenic strains of F. oxysporum. Additional pathogenicity assays carried out with Fol59 and Fol-UDC10 confirmed that both isolates were highly virulent strains. This study represents a contribution to the understanding of the local interaction between tomatoes and F. oxysporum in Colombia.

Boosting photosynthetic machinery and defense priming with chitosan application on tomato plants infected withFusarium oxysporumf. sp.lycopersici

“…The Fol59 strain isolated from tomato plants and identified as F. oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici (Fol) Race 2 (Carmona et al, 2020) was used in all the assays. Fol59 was mantained on PDA (Potato Dextrose Agar) culture medium added with fresh tomato tissue extract (6 g.L -1 ).…”

Whole genome analysis of the koa wilt pathogen (Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. koae) and the development of molecular tools for early detection and monitoring

“…Plant pathogenic fusaria have been assessed for interspecific genetic variation to identify genomic features important for plant host infection [ 1 , 2 ]. In addition, intraspecific genetic variation is a powerful tool to identify potential mechanisms for disease development by pathogenic fungi [ 31 , 32 ]. This study presents a whole genome comparison between two F. oxysporum isolates collected from koa roots, one pathogenic ( Fo koae 44) and one non-pathogenic ( Fo 170) isolates.…”

Biology and Integrated Control of Tomato Wilt Caused by Fusarium oxysporum lycopersici: A Comprehensive Review under the Light of Recent Advancements

“…However, Fusarium wilt of tomato is one of the most important diseases, which affect all plant stages (seedling stage, flowering stage, and fruiting stage). Also, it can affect the whole plant parts, leaves and stems [9, 12,13,17,[19][20][21][22][23][24]. Agrios [25] reported that the disease is most destructive in warm climates and warm sandy soil of temperate regions.…”

“…Fusarium wilt around the world is considered as one of the most important diseases of tomato [17][18][19]21,22,24,[26][27][28][29]. The causal agent of this disease is Fusarium oxysporum lycopersici [12,19,20,24,[29][30][31][32].…”

“…To avoid these losses, several studied strategies have been used such as: (1) Disinfection of soil and planting material with fungicidal chemicals like benomyl, captafol, imazalil, thiram, etc. [36], (2) Crop rotation, (3) Use of resistant cultivars [37,38] and (4) Use of healthy biological control agents derived from microbes or medicinal herbs [3,20,23,24,29,30,32,33,39,40]. This review paper is aimed at summarization of tomato Fusarium wilt; a disease caused by Fusarium oxysporum Lycopersici.…”