Fungi associated with black mould on baobab trees in southern Africa

Abstract

There have been numerous reports in the scientific and popular literature suggesting that African baobab (Adansonia digitata) trees are dying, with symptoms including a black mould on their bark. The aim of this study was to determine the identity of the fungi causing this black mould and to consider whether they might be affecting the health of trees. The fungi were identified by sequencing directly from mycelium on the infected tissue as well as from cultures on agar. Sequence data for the ITS region of the rDNA resulted in the identification of four fungi including Aureobasidium pullulans, Toxicocladosporium irritans and a new species of Rachicladosporium described here as Rachicladosporium africanum. A single isolate of an unknown Cladosporium sp. was also found. These fungi, referred to here as black mould, are not true sooty mould fungi and they were shown to penetrate below the bark of infected tissue, causing a distinct host reaction. Although infections can lead to dieback of small twigs on severely infected branches, the mould was not found to kill trees.

New endophytic Toxicocladosporium species from cacti in Brazil, and description of Neocladosporium gen. nov.

“…(2015) in the USA. This species was also reported by Cruywagen et al (2015) on baobab trees in southern Africa, and on equipment used in the International Space Station or Space Shuttle in Japan (Satoh et al . 2016).…”

“…Substrate and distribution : Isolated from mouldy paint, Suriname (Crous et al 2007); ancient laid-paper documents, Portugal (Mesquita et al 2009); associated with patients with atopic dermatitis, Japan (Zhang et al 2011); colonizing tattoo inks, Italy (Bonadonna et al 2014); on parchment manuscripts, Italy (Piñar et al 2015); from human blood and finger nail, USA (Sandoval-Denis et al 2015); on Adansonia digitata , South Africa (Cruywagen et al 2015); and on equipment used in the International Space Station or Space Shuttle, Japan (Satoh et al 2016). …”

Fungi from Admiralty Bay (King George Island, Antarctica) Soils and Marine Sediments

“…This genus is commonly associated with plants, and a large number of species are phytopathogens. Also, some species were recovered from clinic samples [53][54][55][56][57]. The genus Pseudocercosporella has several species that are associated with plants and also as phytopathogens [58].…”

What is the origin of the black film in the sculpture "Death of Cleopatra"?

“…Registou-se que as espécies botânicas mencionadas estavam a fazer sombra à escultura e a aumentar o teor de matéria orgânica desta pela queda das suas folhas. Estas observações e a pesquisa efetuada levaram-nos à hipótese de o filme negro ser fumagina, também conhecida como sooty mould [11,[20][21][22][23][24]. A fumagina é um termo genérico para um produto de cor preta causado pelo desenvolvimento de fun-gos (provocada por mais de 200 espécies fúngicas) sobre um melada [24][25][26][27] (honeydew), produzido por insetos alimentadores de seiva (especialmente seiva doce), hóspedes das plantas [11,20,24].…”

“…Vários autores colocam a fumagina em diferentes ordens (Capnodiales e Pleosporales) e géneros (Aureobasidium, Alternaria, Capnodium, Cladosporium, Epicoccum, Fumago, Limacunla, Sarcinomyces, Scorias, entre outros) [13-14, 24, 34]. Assim, face ao exposto nos parágrafos anteriores, verifica--se que os géneros observados nos isolamentos provenientes das microculturas são diferentes daqueles referidos na literatura [13,22,24]. Neste trabalho identificou-se um novo género de fungo associada ao termo fumagina, pertencendo ao género Mucor, ordem Mucorales, classe Zygomycota [9].…”