Pineapple Mycobiome Related to Fruitlet Core Rot Occurrence and the Influence of Fungal Species Dispersion Patterns

Abstract

Fruitlet Core Rot (FCR) is a fungal disease that negatively impacts the quality of pineapple, in particular the ‘Queen Victoria’ cultivar. The main FCR causal agent has been identified as Fusariumananatum. This study focused on the correlation between FCR disease occurrence, fungal diversity, and environmental factors. FCR incidence and fungal species repartition patterns were spatially contextualized with specific surrounding parameters of the experimental plots. The mycobiome composition of healthy and diseased fruitlets was compared in order to search for potential fungal markers. A total of 240 pineapple fruits were sampled, and 344 fungal isolates were identified as belonging to 49 species among 17 genera. FCR symptom distribution revealed a significant gradient that correlated to that of the most abundant fungal species. The association of wind direction and the position of proximal cultivated crops sharing pathogens constituted an elevated risk of FCR incidence. Five highly represented species were assayed by Koch’s postulates, and their pathogenicity was confirmed. These novel pathogens belonging to Fusariumfujikuroi and Talaromycespurpureogenus species complexes were identified, unravelling the complexity of the FCR pathosystem and the difficulty of apprehending the pathogenesis over the last several decades. This study revealed that FCR is an airborne disease characterized by a multi-partite pathosystem.

First report of Talaromyces purpureogenus causing postharvest tulip bulb rot in India

“…Talaromyces purpureogenus has been reported as causing core rot on pineapple in Reunion Island (Vignassa et al. , 2021) but based on the available literature, this is the first report of T. purpureogenus causing postharvest tulip bulb rot.…”

“…Talaromyces purpureogenus has been reported as causing core rot on pineapple in Reunion Island (Vignassa et al, 2021)…”

Morphological and Molecular Identification of Fusarium ipomoeae as the Causative Agent of Leaf Spot Disease in Tobacco from China

“…The obtained sequences were analyzed by BLASTn (nucleotide blast) searches. The relevant strains ( Table 1 ) were selected both according to BLAST searches and previous references [ 18 ]. The five gene sequences were concatenated and edited manually in MEGA v.7.0.26 [ 19 ], and the aligned dataset was deposited in TreeBASE.…”

New Insights into Chemical and Biological Properties of Funicone-like Compounds

“…This is not at all surprising, as several Talaromyces spp. are commonly found in association with both healthy and diseased pineapples, including T. purpureogenus , T. funiculosus , and T. flavus , which may even survive pasteurization [ 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 ]. Conversely, a preliminary search carried out in Italy on marketed pineapple juices yielded negative results with reference to the eventual presence of 3- O -methylfunicone [ 78 ].…”