First Report of Leaf Spot Caused by Cercospora bizzozeriana on Hoary Cress in Russia
Authors: Mukhina Z. M. , Kassanelly D. , Berner D. K. , Dubin H. J. 
Published: January 2008

Hoary cress (Lepidium draba (L.) subsp. draba (synonym = Cardaria draba (L.) Desv.) (1), family Brassicaceae, is a common weed in Russia but it is an aggressive invasive weed in the northwestern United States. In the summer of 2006, dying hoary cress plants were found near Kugoyeyskoye in the Krylovskoy area of the Krasnodar Region of Russia. Plants had grayish white leaf spots on most of the leaves. In some cases, the diseased leaf spots dropped out of the leaves producing shot-holes. In most cases, the leaf spots coalesced and the leaves wilted and died. Diseased leaves were collected, air dried, and sent to the quarantine facility of the Foreign Disease-Weed Science Research Unit (FDWSRU), USDA/ARS, Fort Detrick, MD. The air-dried leaves were observed microscopically, and numerous conidiophores and conidia were observed on both sides of leaves within and around the lesions. The fungus isolated (DB06-018) conformed to the description of Cercospora bizzozeriana Saccardo & Berlese (2). Conidiophores were 1 to 5 geniculate, unbranched, pale olive-brown, and uniform in color and width (4 μm). Conidia were multiseptate, hyaline, cylindric, straight to slightly curved, and measured 57 to 171 μm (average 103) long × 3.8 to 6.7 μm (average 4.6) wide. Leaves of rosettes (10 to 15 cm in diameter) of four hoary cress plants were spray inoculated with an aqueous suspension of conidia (1 × 105/ml) and mycelia harvested from 6- to 8-day-old cultures grown on V8 medium. Inoculated plants and two noninoculated plants were placed in a dew chamber at 20°C in darkness and continuous dew. After 96 h, plants were moved from the dew chamber to a greenhouse bench. All plants were watered twice daily. After 12 days, symptoms were observed on all inoculated plants. Symptoms were identical to those observed in the field in Russia. No symptoms were observed on noninoculated plants. C. bizzozeriana was reisolated from the leaves of all symptomatic plants. Nucleotide sequences were obtained for the internal transcribed spacer regions ITS1 and ITS2 and the 5.8S ribosomal RNA gene (GenBank Accession No. EU031780) and aligned with the same sequences obtained from another C. bizzozeriana isolate (GenBank Accession No. DQ370428) collected in Tunisia. There was 100% alignment of the two sequences with no gaps. Both isolates of C. bizzozeriana are destructive pathogens on hoary cress and locally severe epidemics have been observed in both Russia and Tunisia (4). This fungus has also been reported in North America (3) and has the potential as a biological control agent where the weed is a problem. To our knowledge, this is the first report of C. bizzozeriana on L. draba subsp. draba in Russia. A voucher specimen has been deposited with the U.S. National Fungus Collections (BPI 878175). Live cultures are being maintained at FDWSRU.

References: (1) I. A. Al-Shehbaz and K. Mummenhoff. Novon 12:5, 2002. (2) C. Chupp. A Monograph of the Fungus Genus Cercospora. C. Chupp, Ithaca, New York, 1953. (3) I. L. Conners. Res. Bra. Can. Dep. Agric. 1251:1, 1967. (4) T. Souissi et al. Plant Dis. 89:206, 2005.