Diversity of Fusarium spp. associated with dry rot of potato tubers in Poland

Abstract

Fusarium spp. belong to the division Ascomycota and cause important plant diseases; these fungi may contaminate food products with mycotoxins, endangering human and animal health. Several Fusarium spp. have been associated with potato dry rot. The most frequent and devastating of these species are F. sambucinum, F. solani and F. oxysporum, depending on the geographic location and the season. Samples of potato tubers with dry rot symptoms were collected, and their putative fungal isolates were identified as Fusarium species using partial nucleotide sequences of the internal transcribed spacer, translation elongation factor 1-α and β-tubulin genes. Among 149 isolates, 12 species were identified. F. oxysporum was the most frequent (45 % of the isolates), followed by F. avenaceum (12.1 %), F. solani (10.7 %) and F. sambucinum (7.4 %). Phylogenetic analyses confirmed the species identifications and revealed a high diversity of F. solani and a low diversity of F. oxysporum. Potential producers of zearalenone and trichothecenes were identified within the obtained isolates using PCR markers. Isolates that were pathogenic to potatoes in laboratory tests were found in four species: F. sambucinum, F. avenaceum, F. culmorum, and F. graminearum. The effects of increased temperature and mixed inoculum on the pathogenicities of chosen species were evaluated. This study adds 434 potato-derived Fusarium sequences to the NCBI GenBank database and demonstrates that the list of Fusarium species and mycotoxins present in potato tubers may be richer than previously believed, regardless of whether these species cause dry rot or live as saprophytes.

Assessment of Potato Tuber Resistance Against Dry Rot

“…So far, no resistance genes against dry rot have been identified, however particular potato cultivars differ in their susceptibility which depends on the aggressiveness of the Fusarium species used. As shown in the study by Stefańczyk et al (2016) F. sambucinum was the most pathogenic among the 12 different species used for inoculation of four potato cultivars. Interestingly, differences in pathogenic capabilities were also observed between isolates belonging to the same species.…”

Asymptomatic weeds are frequently colonised by pathogenic species of Fusarium in cereal‐based crop rotations

“…In addition, our study confirms previous studies of 29 other weed species as alternative hosts of Fusarium spp. (Helbig & Carroll, ; Jenkinson & Parry, ; Caesar, ; Jasenka, ; Inch & Gilbert, ; Leslie et al ., ; Pereyra & Dill‐Macky, ; Ilic et al ., ; Postic et al ., ; Gebremariam et al ., ; Stefańczyk et al ., ). We found these 29 weed species serve as hosts to previously unreported Fusarium species, with 251 weed– Fusarium combinations that were, to our knowledge, previously undescribed.…”

Symptomatology of fusarium dry rot of potato tubers

“…At the same time, it is affected by a great number of pests ( [3]. Fusarium dry rot caused by different types of Fusarium micromycetes [8,9] makes potato infected in the different regions of cultivation. At the same time, pathologies of different etiology are shown up on potato tubers [7] which makes hard to diagnose them.…”