Characterization of Two Fusarium solani Species Complex Isolates from the Ambrosia Beetle Xylosandrus morigerus

Abstract

Ambrosia beetles are insect vectors of important plant diseases and have been considered as a threat to forest ecosystems, agriculture, and the timber industry. Several factors have been suggested as promoters of the pathogenic behavior of ambrosia beetles; one of them is the nature of the fungal mutualist and its ability to establish an infectious process. In Mexico, Xylosandrus morigerus is an invasive ambrosia beetle that damages many agroecosystems. Herein, two different isolates from the X. morigerus ambrosia beetle belonging to the Fusarium genus are reported. Both isolates belong to the Fusarium solani species complex (FSSC) but not to the Ambrosia Fusarium clade (AFC). The two closely related Fusarium isolates are pathogenic to different forest and agronomic species, and the morphological differences between them and the extracellular protease profile suggest intraspecific variability. This study shows the importance of considering these beetles as vectors of different species of fungal plant pathogens, with some of them even being phylogenetically closely related and having different pathogenic abilities, highlighting the relevance of the fungal mutualist as a factor for the ambrosia complex becoming a pest.

Identification and Characterization of Fusarium Species Causing Watermelon Fruit Rot in Northern Thailand

“…The combined tef-1 and rpb2 sequence data set was used for phylogenetic analysis of the F. solani species complex, following the identification techniques employed in earlier studies [ 50 , 55 ]. This phylogenetic analysis included 41 taxa and the aligned data set contained 1415 bp including gaps ( tef-1 : 1–603 and rpb2 : 604–1415).…”

Characterization of bacteria with plant growth promotion and antagonistic activity associated to rhizosphere and phyllosphere of Platanus mexicana and Persea shiedeana trees natural hosts of ambrosial beetle

“…To evaluated the antagonistic activity of bacteria strains isolated from P. schiedeana and P. mexicana against phytopathogenic fungus Fusarium sp., we evaluated the inhibitory radial growth of Fusarium sp. strain INECOL_BM-06 a phytopathogenic fungus [34]. We found that the strains PsH3-014(14D) and Hay2-01H(7) caused a signi cant growth inhibition to Fusarium sp.…”

“…To determine if the bacterial strains had an antagonistic effect against the growth of Fusarium sp. pathogenic strain INECOL_BM-06 provided by the Phytopathology Laboratory at Institute of Ecology, A.C. (INECOL) [34]; both organisms were co-cultured in Petri plates of Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA) media, three petri plates, per bacterial strain plus three petri plates only with Fusarium sp. as absolute growth control, which we consider "negative control".…”

“…In the present study, we isolated, identi ed and characterized bacteria from the rhizosphere and phyllosphere of Platanus mexicana and Persea schiedeana trees, natural hosts of ambrosial beetles, and evaluated its biological activities over Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings and antagonic activity against phytopathogenic fungus Fusarium sp., INECOL_BM-06, a phytopathogenic fungus associated to Xylosandrus morigerus ambrosia beetle [34], as well as enzymatic activity properties. Our results show that bacteria, PsH3-014(14D) isolated from P. shiedeana and Hay2-01H(7) from P. mexicana, promote plant growth in Arabidopsis seedlings and antagonistic activity against the phytopathogenic fungus Fusarium sp.…”

Plant-Pathogenic Fusarium Species

“…One of the less frequent transmission routes include insects acting as vectors for plant pathogens. Recent study have proven that beetles from the species Xylosandrus morigerus can be effective vectors for the Fusarium solani species complex (FSSC), even though the two isolates showed a considerable level of diversity and were reported to be pathogenic to different plant species [ 6 ].…”