Comparative analyses of sooty mould communities from Brazil and Central Europe

Abstract

To gain an insight into fungal sooty mould communities on leaves of trees and shrubs in the tropics and in temperate regions, 47 biofilms of the Mata Atlântica rainforest relic and the Caatinga vegetation in the state of Sergipe, Northeast Brazil, and from Central European colline and alpine zones were compared. The four sampling sites clearly differed in composition of their epiphyllous fungal communities. The fungal OTUs from all sites belonged mainly to the Ascomycota, with Dothideomycetes being the dominant class. The core community group consisted of a few site-specific representatives in co-occurrence with the ubiquitous Mycosphaerella tassiana and Aureobasidium pullulans. Most species of the core community were dark pigmented and were accompanied by facultative unpigmented or lightly pigmented species. Among the cultivable fungal species, the proportion of melanised species was significantly more abundant in samples from the two European sites, which supports the theory of thermal melanism. The identity of the host plant had a stronger impact on fungal community composition than the presence of sap-feeding insects.

Identification of dominant taxa of sooty moulds and their impact on the leaf microbiome

“…Another study compared the sooty mould communities from four sampling sites in Brazil and Central Europe, and the results showed that the community compositions of samples from different sampling sites were significantly different. However, two taxa (Dothideomycetes and Eurotiomycetes) were present at all the sampling sites, and these dominant fungi were likely the main pathogenic groups (Flessa et al, 2021). The application of next-generation sequencing technology has provided many new ideas and insights for the study of sooty mould communities.…”

Sooty mould caused by Capnodium alfenasii on Azadirachta indica

“…Plant surfaces, particularly the leaves and stems of trees and shrubs, are frequently colonized by sooty moulds (Chomnunti et al, 2014; Flessa et al, 2021), partially obstructing the incident light on leaves, thereby reducing the photosynthetic rate and productivity of plants (Chomnunti et al, 2014). The absence of specific inter‐biotic cellular structures, such as haustorial protrusions, indicates that these fungi are non‐biotrophic (Flessa et al, 2021). Sooty mould fungi exhibit low specificity, as some species can occur in up to 80 different host trees.…”

Production of Non-Volatile Metabolites from Sooty Molds and Their Bio-Functionalities

“…The honeydew exudate from plants and insect sap serve as the nutrient source for sooty molds and they are reported in all climatic regions while being highly abundant in the tropical rainforests [1,2]. Over 200 species of sooty molds have been isolated and taxonomically identified from various hosts [2][3][4][5]. Sooty molds belong to several different families of the Capnodiales and Chaetothyriales, including Antennulariellaceae, Capnodiaceae, Chaetothyriaceae, Coccodiniaceae, Euantennariaceae, Metacapnodiaceae and Trichomeriaceae [2,[6][7][8].…”

“…Such phenomena affect the species richness and abundance of sooty molds particularly in more humid climates [11,12]. In addition, the adaptation of plants and insects to the changing climate could also play a vital role in fungal communities and diversity [5].…”