Elsinoë australis Causing Spot Anthracnose on Poplar in China

Abstract

Poplar plantations provide important industrial feedstock in China. Red spot symptoms were observed on leaves of Populus tomentosa and P. deltoides in southeastern China. Based on morphology and molecular phylogenetic analysis, the fungus isolated from disease spots was identified as Elsinoë australis, which has been previously recognized as a pathogen of Citrus spp. and jojoba but has not been reported in China. Pathogenicity tests found that isolates from two poplar species caused red spot symptoms on leaves from different poplar species and also led to scab formation on the fruit of one hybrid citrus but not on fruit of orange, lemon, or grapefruit. The draft genome of one E. australis isolate was generated. The genetic architecture of the MAT1-1 and MAT1-2 loci of E. australis was revealed by genome sequence and long-range PCR analyses. Single isolates carried only one of two opposite mating-types was confirmed by idiomorph-specific PCR, suggesting a heterothallic mating system. Our results not only revealed a new E. australis pathotype causing poplar spot anthracnose in China but also provided its genome and mating system information.

IMA genome‑F17

“…Genome sequences are currently available for six economically important species of Elsinoë. These include E. ampelina (Haridas et al 2020 ; Li et al 2020 ), E. arachidis (Jiao et al 2021 ; Su et al 2022 ), E. australis (Shanmugam et al 2020 , Zhao et al 2020 ), E. batatas (Zhang et al 2022 ), E. fawcettii (Shanmugam et al 2020 ; Jeffress et al 2020 ) and E. murrayae (NCBI; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov ). Elsinoë necatrix is amongst the more destructive of these pathogens and consequently a threat to commercial forestry in Asia and globally.…”

Heterologous expression of Arabidopsis pattern recognition receptor RLP23 increases broad‐spectrum resistance in poplar to fungal pathogens

“…brunnea f. sp. monogermtubi (MbMo) and E. australis (Ea) are common fungal pathogens of Shanxin, and the genomes of these two fungi have been sequenced in our previous studies (Cheng et al, 2022;Zhao et al, 2020) S1). Sanger sequencing showed that the predicted introns were appropriately spliced, and the cloned sequences were all consistent with predicted gene models, indicating that the four NLP genes were not pseudogenes and were expressed in the early stage of infection.…”

“…Poplar plantations consisting of elite poplar clones provide important feedstock for producing fibreboard, paper pulp, and construction lumber, as well as forming shelterbelts against deserts and wind (Bradshaw et al, 2000 ; Tuskan et al, 2006 ). However, poplars are often affected by fungal foliar diseases, such as black leaf spot and anthracnose caused by Marssonina brunnea and Elsinoë australis , respectively, leading to premature leaf fall, reduced photosynthetic capacity, and decreased productivity (Han et al, 2000 ; Zhao et al, 2020 ).…”

“…M. brunnea f. sp. monogermtubi (MbMo) and E. australis (Ea) are common fungal pathogens of Shanxin, and the genomes of these two fungi have been sequenced in our previous studies (Cheng et al, 2022 ; Zhao et al, 2020 ). A tBLASTn search with NLP of P. parasitica (GenBank accession no.…”

First Report of Leaf Spot Disease Caused by Colletotrichum siamense on Vernicia montana in China

“…The same fungus was reisolated from the lesions, confirming Koch's postulates. C. siamense exhibits pathogenicity to many plants across the world including Euonymus japonicas (Wu 2020), Parthenocissus tricuspidata (Zhao et al 2020), Aloe vera (Azad et al 2020), andcotton (Salunkhe et al 2020). To our knowledge, this is the first report of C. siamense associated with leaf spot disease on V. montana in China.…”