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Phylogenetic tree (Inferred MP tree) among Colletotrichum spp. and Colletotrichum sp. strains isolated from Fiorinia externa for the GS gene. Consensus of nine equally parsimonious trees. Numbers above nodes are bootstrap values based on 1000 iterations with 30 random additions each. Only branches with values above 70 are considered well supported.
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An epizootic has been reported in Fiorinia externa populations in New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and NewJersey. Infected insects have profuse sclerotial masses enclosing their bodies. The most commonly isolated microorganism from infected F. externa was Colletotrichum sp. A morphological and molecular characterization of this fungus indicated...
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Context 1
... morphological and molecular data indicated that the fungus isolated from F. externa in the epizootic belonged to the genus Colletotrichum and that it was identical to the species C. acutatum. Colletotrichum affects a wide variety of plants ( Lenné 1992, Lardner et al 1999, Moriwaki et al 2002 with C. acutatum and C. gloeosporioides known to be the most cosmopolitan species. Reports of plant pathogens infecting insects are uncommon. Within the genus Colletotrichum there is only one other published case, that of C. gloeospor- ioides f. sp. ortheziidae infecting the scale Orthezia praelonga in Brazil (Cesnik and Ferraz 2000). Our data indicate that C. acutatum var. fioriniae is associated with the epizootic in F. externa. The phylogenetic analysis obtained from four of the six genes, ITS (FIG. 3), GS (FIG. 4), GPDH (FIG. 5) and b-tubulin2 suggests that the divergence in host utilization, from plant to insect, of both C. acutatum var. fioriniae and C. gloeosporiodies f. sp. ortheziidae are independent events. However, when using the HMG at the MAT1-2 gene, both (FIG. 6) taxa form a monophyletic group, perhaps due to sampling error. Both Colletotrichum strains retrieved from F. externa and O. praelonga appear to be derived from C. ...
Context 2
... sequenced six genes from seven strains of Colletotrichum isolated from the F. externa epizootic and two C. gloeosporioides f. sp. ortheziidae strains from the epizootic in Brazil. These genes comprise a total of 3121 base pairs. Parsimony informative characters for the respective genes in the analysis were: GPDH (72.1%); HMG at the MAT1-2 (56.6%); GS (34.6%); b-tubulin (26.2%); ITS (16.8%) and D1/D2 region of the 28S rDNA (3.4%). Colletotrichum and C. gloeospor- ioides nucleotide sequences obtained for the six genes were compared individually with related sequences from GenBank using BLAST. A subset of sequences with similarity at or above 90% were retrieved from GenBank and incorporated in the dataset used for the phylogenetic analysis included herein. Colletotrichum isolated from F. externa and C. gloeosporioides isolated from O. praelonga were found to be most similar to known representative phytopathogenic C. acutatum species. For the ITS sequences Colletotrichum from F. externa was identical to C. lupini (FIG. 3). The mean character difference for the respective genes used in the analysis between the two entomopathogenic Colletotrichum spp., listed in decreasing order, is GPDH (8.4%), GS (5.9%), b-tubulin2 (4.1%), HMG at MAT1-1 (3.7%), ITS (1.3%) and the D1/D2 region of the 28S rDNA (0.36%). We could not analyze a concatenated dataset of all the genes because sequences are not available for the same taxa in all genes. With the exception of the two ribosomal sequences, ITS and the 28S, the analysis from all other genes analyzed show strong support for the placement of the two entomopathogenic forms within a monophyletic C. acutatum, despite the different taxa used for each gene (FIGS. 4, 5, 6). The GPDH gene showed the greatest divergence between the F. externa-derived Colletotrichum and C. gloeosporioides from O. praelonga, despite having sequenced 248 base pairs (FIG. 5). GPDH had the largest number of well supported branches, whereas 28S had the least. Gouli var. nov. Similar to Colletotrichum acutatum but differing in its pathogenicity on Fiorinia externa Ferris (Hemiptera: Coccoidea). Anamorph colonies pre- senting a wide morphological variability, often with several phenotypes as sectors within a colony, in both single-spore and suspension derived isolates cultured in PDA at constant 0:24 h photoperiod (L:D) and 15, 20, 25 C. Mycelium color at 10 C was gray, whereas at higher temperatures several colors (black, gray, orange, pink, red, white) within a colony were present in mycelium and media. Superficial and aerial mycelia were both observed within a colony, more often superficial. Pink mycelium and chromogenic media pigmentation were abundant at 20 and 25 C. Conidial masses were observed only in suspension derived isolates. Scattered and often abundant conidiomata were observed at 25 C. Single-spore isolates were more uniform in color although color differences were common at 15 and 25 C. Remarks. Anamorph form associated with an epizo- otic in Fiorinia externa scale insects within New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and New Jersey. Parasitic on Fiorinia externa and endophytic in 28 species of plants in all strata of hemlock forests where epizootic occurs. Sample insects of mummified Fiorina externa were surface sterilized with 0.1% NaOCl for 8 s. Fungal strains were cultured in PDA with antibiotics (strepto- mycin, 12.5 mL/l and penicillin, 5 mL/l) and single- spored in PDA a ...
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Background
Cordyceps militaris is an insect pathogenic fungus that is prized for its use in traditional medicine. This and other entomopathogenic fungi are understudied sources for the discovery of new bioactive molecules. In this study, PacBio SMRT long read sequencing technology was used to sequence the genome of C. militaris with a focus on the...
Citations
... Recently, C. fioriniae was reported as the causal agent of grapevine anthracnose in New York [121], and it is also associated with grapevine ripe rot [122]. C. fioriniae not only has been widely reported as an endophyte and pathogen in a broad range of hosts but is also cited as an entomopathogen of the elongate hemlock scale (Fiorinia externa), the origin of its specific epithet [123][124][125]. Therefore, C. fioriniae may act as a benign or potentially beneficial foliar endophyte in some plant hosts, while also reducing the quality of and accelerating decay in fruit. ...
Plant diseases and pests reduce crop yields, accounting for global crop losses of 30% to 50%. In conventional agricultural production systems, these losses are typically controlled by applying chemical pesticides. However, public pressure is mounting to curtail agrochemical use. In this context, employing beneficial endophytic microorganisms is an increasingly attractive alternative to the use of conventional chemical pesticides in agriculture. A multitude of fungal endophytes are naturally present in plants, producing enzymes, small peptides, and secondary metabolites due to their bioactivity, which can protect hosts from pathogens, pests, and abiotic stresses. The use of beneficial endophytic microorganisms in agriculture is an increasingly attractive alternative to conventional pesticides. The aim of this study was to characterize fungal endophytes isolated from apparently healthy, feral wine grapes in eastern Canada that have grown without agrochemical inputs for decades. Host plants ranged from unknown seedlings to long-lost cultivars not widely propagated since the 1800s. HPLC-MS was used to identify unique endophyte-derived chemical compounds in the host plants, while dual-culture competition assays showed a range in endophytes’ ability to suppress the mycelial growth of Botrytis, which is typically controlled in viticulture with pesticides. Twelve of the most promising fungal endophytes isolated were identified using multilocus sequencing and morphology, while DNA barcoding was employed to identify some of their host vines. These fungal endophyte isolates, which consisted of both known and putative novel strains, belonged to seven genera in six families and five orders of Ascomycota. Exploring the fungal endophytes in these specimens may yield clues to the vines’ survival and lead to the discovery of novel biocontrol agents.
... infect a wide range of ornamental plants and tropical, subtropical and temperate fruit crops (Bernstein et al., 1995;Freeman and Shabi, 1996;Freeman et al., 1998;Polizzi et al., 2011;Aiello et al., 2015;Ismail et al., 2015;Guarnaccia et al., , 2019Guarnaccia et al., , 2021Vitale et al., 2021). Numerous species of Colletotrichum are recognized to affect citrus and allied genera (Atlantia, Fortunella, Microcitrus, Murraya, Poncirus), and are included in four species complexes (SCs), namely gloeosporioides SC (Cannon et al., 2008;Phoulivong et al., 2011;Weir et al., 2012), acutatum SC (Marcelino et al., 2008;Shivas and Tan, 2009;Damm et al., 2012b;Baroncelli et al., 2015), boninense SC (Moriwaki et al., 2003;Yang et al., 2009;Damm et al., 2012a) and truncatum SC (Damm et al., 2009;Cannon et al., 2012). These pathogenic fungi are well-known to cause anthracnose, post bloom fruit drop, tear stain, stem-end rot, and withered twig tips on several citrus hosts (Brown et al., 1996;Timmer et al., 2000;Peres et al., 2008;Lima et al., 2011;McGovern et al., 2012;Riolo et al., 2021), and losses of marketable fruit (Aiello et al., 2015;Ramos et al., 2016;Rhaiem and Taylor, 2016). ...
Citrus fruit crops are important in many countries. Anthracnose, post bloom fruit drop, fruit stem-end rot, twig and branch dieback and gummosis, caused by Colletotrichum spp., are diseases that seriously threaten citrus production. Surveys of kumquat (Fortunella margarita) orchards were conducted in Eastern Sicily, Southern Italy, during 2022-23. Fungi isolated from twig and branch dieback of F. margarita were identified as Colletotrichum karsti through multi-locus (gapdh, tub2 and act) phy-logeny. Pathogenicity and aggressiveness on detached apple fruit and kumquat plants were confirmed for a selection of representative isolates, although with different levels of disease incidence observed. This is the most comprehensive study on identification of C. karsti as the causal agent of twig and branch dieback of kumquat.
... Recently, C. fioriniae was reported as the causal agent of grapevine anthracnose in New York [80], and is also associated with grapevine ripe rot [81]. C. fioriniae not only has been widely reported as an endophyte and pathogen in a broad range of hosts, but is also cited as an entomopathogen of the elongate hemlock scale (Fiorinia externa), the origin of its specific epithet [82][83][84]. Therefore, C. fioriniae may act as a benign or potentially beneficial foliar endophyte in some plant hosts, while also reducing the quality of and accelerating decay in, fruit. ...
Plant diseases and pests reduce crop yields, accounting for global crop losses of 30% to 50%. In conventional agricultural production systems, these losses are typically controlled by applying chemical pesticides. However, public pressure is mounting to curtail agrochemical use. In this context, employing beneficial endophytic microorganisms is an increasingly attractive alternative to the use of conventional chemical pesticides in agriculture. A multitude of fungal endophytes are naturally present in plants, producing enzymes, small peptides and secondary metabolites due to their bioactivity, can protect hosts from pathogens, pests and abiotic stresses. The use of beneficial endophytic microorganisms in agriculture is an increasingly attractive alternative to conventional pesticides. The aim of this study was to characterize fungal endophytes isolated from apparently healthy, feral wine grapes in eastern Canada that have grown without agrochemical inputs for decades. Host plants ranged from unknown seedlings to long-lost cultivars not widely propagated since the 1800s. HPLC-MS was used to identify unique endophyte-derived chemical compounds in the host plants, while dual-culture competition assays showed a range in endophytes’ ability to suppress the mycelial growth of Botrytis, which is typically controlled in viticulture with pesticides. Twelve of the most promising fungal endophytes isolated were identified using multilocus sequencing and morphology, while DNA barcoding was employed to identify some of their host vines. These fungal endophyte isolates, which consisted of both known and putative novel strains, belonged to seven genera in six families and five orders of Ascomycota. Exploring the fungal endophytes in these specimens may yield clues to the vines’ survival and lead to the discovery of novel biocontrol agents.
... For example, C. gloeosporioides sensu lato and C. dematium were reported as the cause of fungal keratitis [16,17]. C. acutatum have been reported to infect scale insects [18]. As plant pathogens, Colletotrichum infects many species of forest trees, grasses, economic fruits, and crops, resulting in great economic losses [19][20][21][22][23][24]. ...
Viburnum odoratissimum Ker-Gawl is native to Asia and is usually used as a garden ornamental. In September 2022, a leaf blotch on V. odoratissimum was observed in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China. The disease causes the leaves of the plants to curl and dry up and defoliate early. It not only seriously affects the growth of the plants but also greatly reduces the ornamental value. The pathogenic fungus was isolated from the diseased leaves, and the fungus was identified to be Colletotrichum siamense based on morphological features and multilocus phylogenetic analyses of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, actin (ACT), calmodulin (CAL), beta-tubulin 2 (TUB2), chitin synthase (CHS-1), Apn2-Mat1-2 intergenic spacer and partial mating type (ApMat), and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) genes. Pathogenicity tests were performed by inoculating healthy leaves with conidia. C. siamense can grow at 15–35 °C, with an optimal growth temperature at 25–30 °C. The results of sensitivity to nine fungicides showed that C. siamense was the most sensitive to prochloraz in the concentration range of 0.01 μg/mL to 100 μg/mL. Therefore, spraying prochloraz before the optimum growth temperature of pathogenic fungus can achieve effective control. It provided useful information for future studies on the prevention and treatment strategies of C. siamense. This is the first report of leaf blotch caused by C. siamense on V. odoratissimum in China and worldwide.
... 29 At least three Colletotrichum species have been described to cause insect mortality. For example, C. fioriniae attacks elongate hemlock scale (Fiorinia externa Ferris), 30 while Colletotrichum nymphaeae (previously known as Colletotrichum gloeosporioides f. sp. ortheziidae) infects citrus scale (Orthezia praelonga). ...
BACKGROUND
Spotted‐wing drosophila, Drosophila suzukii, is a serious pest of thin‐skinned fruits. Alternative methods to control this pest are needed to reduce insecticide use, including new repellents. Previous research demonstrated that D. suzukii adults use odor cues to avoid blueberries infected with the fungal pathogen Colletotrichum fioriniae, which causes the disease anthracnose. To identify novel D. suzukii repellents, we investigated the volatile emission from experimentally‐infected fruit, which were inoculated with C. fioriniae isolates in the laboratory, and from field‐collected fruit, which were naturally infected and harvested from a field. We then tested the pathogen‐induced volatiles on D. suzukii adult behavior.
RESULTS
Volatile emission was similar between all five C. fioriniae strains, with good agreement between experimentally‐infected and field‐collected berries. In total, 14 volatiles were found to be more abundant in infected versus uninfected fruit headspace. In multiple‐choice bioassays, nine of the 14 volatiles elicited repellency responses from adult D. suzukii. These nine volatiles were further evaluated in dual choice assays, where all nine reduced fly capture by 43–96% compared to the control. The most repellent compounds tested were the esters ethyl butanoate and ethyl (E)‐but‐2‐enoate, which were more or equally repellent to the known D. suzukii repellents 1‐octen‐3‐ol, geosmin, and 2‐pentylfuran. Dose–response assays identified concentration‐dependent effects on D. suzukii repellency and oviposition when applied individually and consistent aversion observed across doses of a 1:1 blend.
CONCLUSION
We report two repellents from C. fioriniae‐infected blueberries that could be useful semiochemicals for the behavioral manipulation of D. suzukii in the field. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry. This article has been contributed to by U.S. Government employees and their work is in the public domain in the USA.
... The present results also demonstrated that the identifications of the species in the C. acutatum species complex using a single ITS region and/or TUB2 gene in the previous publications (Han et al., 2014;Kim et al., 2006Kim et al., , 2008Noh et al., 2014) were insufficient. C. fioriniae has been reported as an entomopathogenic, endophytic and phytopathogenic fungus Marcelino et al., 2008). This species has been reported as the causal agent of anthracnose diseases on (I. ...
Colletotrichum acutatum species complex is one of the most important groups in the genus Colletotrichum with a high species diversity and a wide range of host plants. C. acutatum and related species have been collected from different plants and locations in Korea and deposited into the Korean Agricultural Culture Collection (KACC), National Institute of Agricultural Sciences since the 1990s. These fungal isolates were previously identified based mainly on morphological characteristics , and a limitation of molecular data was provided. To confirm the identification of species, 64 C. acutatum species complex isolates in KACC were used in this study for DNA sequence analyses of six loci: nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacers (ITS), beta-tubulin 2 (TUB2), histone-3 (HIS3), glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), chitin synthase 1 (CHS-1), and actin (ACT). The molecular analysis revealed that they were identified in six different species of C. fioriniae (24 isolates), C. nymphaeae (21 isolates), C. scovillei (12 isolates), C. chrysanthemi (three isolates), C. lupini (two isolates), and C. godetiae (one isolate), and a novel species candidate. We compared the hosts of KACC isolates with "The List of Plant Diseases in Ko-rea", previous reports in Korea and global reports and found that 23 combinations between hosts and pathogens could be newly reported in Korea after pathoge-nicity tests, and 12 of these have not been recorded in the world.
... For example, C. gloeosporioides has been reported to cause subcutaneous and systemic infections (Cano et al. 2004), and C. acutatum var. fioriniae can infect the elongate hemlock scale (Fiorinia externa) (Marcelino et al. 2008). In addition, the same Colletotrichum species, either on the same or different hosts, can function as phytopathogens, epiphytes, saprobes, or endophytes Prihastuti et al. 2009). ...
Jasminum mesnyi Hance is an important medicinal and ornamental plant. This species is native to South Central China and Vietnam and grows primarily in the subtropical biomes. In June 2022, 17 Colletotrichum strains were isolated from leaf tip blight on foliage of J. mesnyi in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China. Based on morphological characteristics and multi-locus phylogenetic analyses of the six genomic loci (ITS, CAL, ACT, TUB2, CHS-1, and GAPDH), a new species, namely C. nanjingense, and a known species, namely C. gloeosporioides were described and reported. Pathogenicity tests revealed that the new species and a known species were pathogens causing leaf tip blight on J. mesnyi. The results provided necessary information for disease control and enhanced our understanding of the diversity of Colletotrichum species in China.
... Among these, the Colletotrichum acutatum species complex stands out as a diverse group of closely related plant pathogenic fungi within the genus (Baroncelli et al. 2017). Members of the Colletotrichum acutatum species complex have a wide host range in both domesticated and wild plant species, and their capability to infect insects has also been described (Damn et al. 2012, Marcelino et al. 2008. In this species complex, Colletotrichum limetticola (formerly known as Gloeosporium limetticola; Clausen 1912) was initially described in 2012 as a species predominantly associated with wither tip symptoms on sour lime (Citrus aurantiifolia) in Cuba and the USA during the 1910s (Damm et al. 2012). ...
... fioriniae J.A.P. Marcelino & S. Gouli) is a well-known fungal plant pathogen (some diseases that are caused are called anthracnose) and plant endophyte, occurring worldwide (Damm et al. 2012, Martin andPeter 2021). However, it is also known to cause epizootics in another North America hemipteran, the elongate hemlock scale (Fiorinia externa Ferris) (Marcelino et al. 2008). Laboratory bioassays with C. fioriniae also demonstrated infection in larvae of the lepidopteran, Spodoptera exigua (Hübner), the whitefly Bemisia argentifolii Bellows & Perring, and the thrips Frankliniella occidentalis Pergande (Marcelino et al. 2009). ...
The microsporidian, Nosema maddoxi Becnel, Solter, Hajek, Huang, Sanscrainte & Estep, infects brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys (Stål) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), populations in North America and Asia and causes decreased fitness in infected insects. This host overwinters as adults, often in aggregations in sheltered locations, and variable levels of mortality occur over the winter. We investigated pathogen prevalence in H. halys adults before, during, and after overwintering. Population level studies resulted in detection of N. maddoxi in H. halys in 6 new US states, but no difference in levels of infection by N. maddoxi in autumn versus the following spring. Halyomorpha halys that self-aggregated for overwintering in shelters deployed in the field were maintained under simulated winter conditions (4°C) for 5 months during the 2021-2022 winter and early spring, resulting in 34.6 ± 4.8% mortality. Over the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 winters, 13.4 ± 3.5% of surviving H. halys in shelters were infected with N. maddoxi, while N. maddoxi infections were found in 33.4 ± 10.8% of moribund and dead H. halys that accumulated in shelters. A second pathogen, Colletotrichum fioriniae Marcelino & Gouli, not previously reported from H. halys, was found among 46.7 ± 7.8% of the H. halys that died while overwintering, but levels of infection decreased after overwintering. These 2 pathogens occurred as co-infections in 11.1 ± 5.9% of the fungal-infected insects that died while overwintering. Increasing levels of N. maddoxi infection caused epizootics among H. halys reared in greenhouse cages after overwintering.
... There is growing evidence for endophytic Colletotrichum species to be ubiquitous and widespread [32]. For example, many Colletotrichum species were isolated from healthy terrestrial plants like tropical grasses, banana (Musa acuminata Colla), ginger (Alpinia malaccensis (Burm.f.) Roscoe), Eupatorium thymifolium Britton, Dendrobium sp., Bletilla ochracea [15,[33][34][35]. Some few indicated the presence of endophytic Colletotrichum spp. in aquatic plants. ...
An unknown endophytic fungus was isolated from the aquatic plant Hippuris vulgaris in Litang county, Sichuan province, China. Phylogenetic analyses inferred from combined ITS, Sod2, Apn2, and TUB2 sequences revealed that the endophyte is a new species belonging to the Colletotrichum graminicola species complex. Morphological characteristics showed that Colletotrichum litangense is characterized by its falcate, lunate to sublunate conidia, and ellipsoidal, ovoid, or lobed appressoria. Pathogenicity tests on several fruits showed that C. litangense could induce anthracnose lesions. As a result of the phylogenetic, morphological, and pathogenicity analyses, we proposed the name Colletotrichum litangense for the new species.
