bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
First Report of Canker Disease Caused by Botryosphaeria parva on Cork Oak Trees in Italy
Authors: Linaldeddu B. T. , Franceschini A. , Luque J. , Phillips A. J. L. 
Published: May 2007

A survey was carried out in the spring of 2003 to study the fungi associated with declining trees in a cork oak (Quercus suber L.) forest located in Sassari Province, Sardinia, Italy (40°52′N, 9°01′E) at an altitude of 150 m (above sea level). Several isolates obtained from live twigs and branches showing sunken necrotic bark lesions were identified as Fusicoccum parvum Pennycook & Samuels (teleomorph Botryosphaeria parva Pennycook & Samuels). Neither pycnidia nor ascomata were observed on the symptomatic samples collected. On potato dextrose agar (PDA) at 25°C, the isolates developed an aerial and compact mycelium, initially white but becoming gray after 4 to 6 days, and produced pycnidia after 1 month on sterile cork oak twigs placed on the surface of PDA. Conidia from culture were hyaline, ellipsoidal to fusiform, externally smooth, thin walled, nonseptate, 12 to 19 (15.5) × 5.5 to 8.5 (6.5) μm, with length/width ratio of 2.4 ± 0.1 (mean ± standard error). Identity was confirmed by analysis of the nucleotide sequences of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) from the rRNA repeat and the translation elongation factor 1-alpha (EF1-α), as done elsewhere (1,4). BLAST searches at GenBank showed a high identity with reference sequences (ITS: >99%; EF1-α: 100%). Representative sequences of both regions were deposited at GenBank (ITS: Accession No. DQ487157; EF1-α: Accession No. DQ487158). Pathogenicity tests were carried out on seven 2-year-old cork oak seedlings maintained in a greenhouse at 14 to 26°C with the B. parva strain CBS 119937 obtained in this study. A mycelial plug (3 to 4 mm2) taken from the margin of an actively growing colony on PDA was put in a shallow wound made by a scalpel on the basal part of the stem of each seedling. Sterile PDA plugs were placed into similar wounds on three control seedlings. The inoculation points were wrapped in Parafilm to retain moisture for 1 week. After 4 weeks, all seedlings inoculated with B. parva died and showed a collapse of the stem cortical tissues associated with dark brown discolorations and vascular necrosis measuring 10.9 ± 0.4 cm. No symptoms were visible in the control seedlings. The pathogen was reisolated from all the inoculated seedlings, thus fulfilling Koch's postulates. The results confirm the virulence of this fungus and point to its possible involvement in the aetiology of cork oak decline. B. parva is a cosmopolitan, plurivorous pathogen causing disease in several hosts of economic importance, such as grapevine (3), kiwi (2), and Eucalyptus spp. trees (1). To our knowledge, this is the first report of B. parva causing canker disease on cork oak trees. References: (1) A. Gezahgne et al. S. Afr. J. Bot. 70:241, 2004. (2) S. R. Pennycook and G. J. Samuels. Mycotaxon 24:445, 1985. (3) A. J. L. Phillips. Phytopathol. Mediterr. 41:3, 2002. (4) B. Slippers et al. Mycologia 96:83, 2004.
First Report of Black Foot Disease of Grapevine Caused by Cylindrocarpon macrodidymum in Chile
Authors: Auger J. , Esterio M. , Pérez I. 
Published: May 2007

Black foot disease, caused by Cylindrocarpon macrodidymum Halleen, Schroers & Crous, is reported damaging table and wine grapes (Vitis vinifera L.) for the first time in Chile. During the summer of 2006, 2- to 5-year-old grapevines showed reduced vigor, shortened internodes, and drying and dying shoots along with abnormal development of roots with growth parallel to the soil surface, necrotic root crowns, and development of secondary roots. Internal necrosis extended from the bark to the pith in diseased parts of the plants. Other symptoms included black discoloration of the wood, gum inclusions in xylem vessels, black streaks in the vascular tissue, and reduction in root biomass, with sunken, necrotic root lesions. Eighteen Cylindrocarpon isolates were collected from roots, vascular elements, and pith tissue of grapevines cultivars (Flame Seedless, Red Globe, Thompson Seedless, Merlot, Carmenere, and Cabernet Sauvignon) from 12 locations in Chile. The isolates were identified on the basis of morphological features. All isolates produced micro- and macroconidia (one to three septa) and chlamydospores in short and intercalary chains (1,4), and by internal transcribed spacer (ITS1-5,8S-ITS4) rDNA and β -tubulin (BT1, and BT2) partial sequences, identical to those of C. macrodidymum (isolate USS074, GenBank Accession No. AY 997558 and isolate USSO150, GenBank Accession No. AY 997598) (2). Phylogenetic analyses placed these isolates in a clade closely related, but clearly distinct from other clades, to C. destructans and C. liriodendri (2,3). Pathogenicity tests were completed by drench inoculation onto 50 6-month-old rooted cuttings of ‘Red Globe’ with 25 ml of conidia suspension (106 conidia ml-1) obtained from four isolates. Ten control cuttings of ‘Red Globe’ were inoculated with an equal volume of sterile distilled water. The plants were incubated for 4 months in a controlled environment facility at 24°C. All isolates tested were pathogenic. In addition, they caused significant root rot (t-test of disease incidence, P = 0.0048) and no significant level of variation was detected between different isolates. C. macrodidymum was reisolated from the region of brown streaking in all the inoculated cuttings and was not isolated from the water-treated controls. To our knowledge, this is the first report of C. macrodidymum causing black foot disease on grapevine in Chile. References: (1) C. D. Booth. Mycol. Pap. (CMI) 104:1, 1966. (2) F. Halleen et al. Stud. Mycol. 50:431, 2004. (3) F. R. Mantiri et al. Can. J. Bot. 79:334, 2001. (4) E. Petit and W. D. Gubler. Plant Dis. 89:1051, 2005.
First Report of Spirea Witches'-Broom Disease in China
Authors: Gao R. , Wang J. , Li X. D. , Zhu X. P. , Tian G. Z. 
Published: May 2007

Bumald spirea (Spiarea bumalda Burv.) is an important ornamental tree widely grown in northern China. In August of 2006, spirea plants exhibiting symptoms of witches'-broom, stunting, yellowing, and shoot dieback were found at an incidence of 5 to 15% in Qingzhou City, Shandong Province, China. Total DNA was extracted separately from 0.1 g of phloem tissue from leaf midribs and stems of six symptomatic and six asymptomatic plants with a modified cetyltriethylammonium bromide (CTAB) method (3). Resulting DNA samples were analyzed for phytoplasma DNA by a nested PCR assay using phytoplasma universal 16S rDNA gene primer pairs R16mF2/R16mR1 and R16F2n/R16R2 (2). These primers amplified 1.5- and 1.2-kb products, respectively, from DNA of all symptomatic plants only. Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of the 1.2-kb 16S rDNA product using enzymes AluI, MseI, and HhaI indicated that all symptomatic plants contained a group 16SrI (aster yellows group) subgroup B (16SrI-B) phytoplasma strain (4). A 16S rDNA sequence derived from this strain (GenBank Accession No. EF176608) was most similar (99.8 and 99.6%) to those of severe aster yellows (GenBank Accession No. M86340) and Maryland aster yellows (GenBank Accession No. AF322644) phytoplasmas, respectively, thereby confirming strain identity based on RFLP analysis. A phytoplasma (Spiarea stunt phytoplasma, GenBank Accession No. AF190228), which belongs to X-disease group (16SrIII), was reported to infect spirea and probably be lethal to S. tomentosa in New York (1,4). The phytoplasma reported here shared low identity (90.8%) with Spiarea stunt phytoplasma, but also caused dieback of spirea shoots. The epidemiology and economic impact of this disease need further intensive investigation. To our knowledge, this is the first report of spirea witches'-broom disease and of its association with a subgroup 16SrI-B phytoplasma in China. References: (1) H. M. Griffiths et al. Can. J. Plant Pathol. 16:255, 1994. (2) D. E. Gundersen and I.-M. Lee. Phytopathol. Mediterr. 35:144, 1996. (3) Y. Qi et al. Biotechnol. Bull. 4:44, 2004. (4) The IRPCM Phytoplasma/Spiroplasma Working Team-Phytoplasma Taxonomy Group. Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 54:1243, 2004.
First Report of Colletotrichum gloeosporioides Causing Anthracnose Fruit Rot of Trichosanthes kirilowii in China
Authors: Li H. Y. , Zhang Z. F. 
Published: May 2007

Trichosanthes kirilowii Maxim., a species within the gourd family, is cultivated in China for its edible seeds and medicinal roots. Since 2000, heavy losses due to fruit rot have been caused by a new disease with typical anthracnose symptoms, i.e., water-soaked, dark brown-to-black, sunken lesions. Signs of the suspected pathogen were usually seen on near-mature fruits and were especially evident after abundant rainfall. The lesions contained numerous black acervuli with black setae that produced abundant, salmon-colored spore masses under high relative humidity. Dark lesions on leaves and stems could also be found in the field that sometimes led to stem girdling and wilting. Conidia produced in acervuli were 14 to 20 × 3 to 6 μm, straight, cylindrical, hyaline, aseptate, with both ends rounded. Conidiophores were 13 to 22 × 4 to 6 μm, aseptate, and cylindrical, while the setae, usually with three to five septa, measured 60 to 86 × 5 to 6 μm. The pathogen was initially identified as Colletotrichum gloeosporioides on the basis of the morphology (2). In culture, the fungus produced a gray-to-black colony with whitish aerial mycelium on potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium. Pathogenicity was tested by inoculating the equator of 10 fruits of T. kirilowii with a 5-day-old mycelia plug from a single-spore colony (0.5 cm in diameter); fruits inoculated with the plugs of PDA medium served as the control. Inoculated fruits were covered with plastic for 24 h to maintain high relative humidity. After 4 days, 100% of the inoculated fruits showed symptoms identical to those observed on T. kirilowii fruit affected in the field, while all fruits inoculated with PDA medium remained free of symptoms. Reisolation of the fungus from fruit lesions confirmed that the causal agent was C. gloeosporioides. To confirm the pathogen to species, the C. gloeosporioides-specific primers CgInt/ITS4 and C. acutatum-specific primers CaInt2/ITS4 (1) were used to amplify the sequence of internal transcribed spacer regions. A fragment of approximately 500 bp was only amplified with primers CgInt/ITS4 and the sequence (GenBank Accession No. AM491334) was 98 to 100% matched to the sequences of several C. gloeosporioides isolates (e.g., GenBank Accession Nos. AJ301919, AB255249, AJ301908), whereas the sequence shares 86 and 91% identity to that of C. orbiculare (GenBank Accession No. AB042308) and C. acutatum (GenBank Accession No. AJ749675), respectively. Thus, we concluded that C. gloeosporioides is the causal agent of anthracnose fruit rot of T. kirilowii. To our knowledge, this is the first report of C. gloeosporioides infecting T. kirilowii. References: (1) A. E. Brown et al. Phytopathology 86:523, 1996. (2) B. C. Sutton. The Coelomycetes. CAB International Publishing, New York, 1980.
First Report of Blueberry Botrytis Blight in Buenos Aires, Entre Ríos, and Córdoba, Argentina
Authors: Vasquez P. , Baldomá J. A. , Wright E. R. , Pérez A. , de Sesar M. Divo , Pérez B. A. 
Published: May 2007

Since 2003, a new field disease has been observed on several cultivars of highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L.) in Buenos Aires (Baradero, Colonia Urquiza, Lima, Mercedes, and San Pedro), Entre Ríos (Concordia, Gualeguaychú, and Larroque), and Córdoba (Capilla del Monte and La Cumbre). Infected flowers turned brown to tan with a water-soaked appearance and shriveled up. Blighted flowers typically did not produce fruits; even an entire cluster of berries could be aborted. A chlorotic area, that later became necrotic and turned light brown, developed when leaves were in contact with blighted flowers. A watery rot developed on fruit occasionally before harvest but more generally after harvest. Infected tender green twigs also became blighted, with leaf tissue becoming brown to black. Older twigs and stems were also blighted. Abundant, gray mycelium with conidial masses developed on all affected tissues under moist conditions. Sections of infected leaves, twigs, stems, flowers, and fruits were surfaced sterilized with 0.2% NaOCl, plated on 2% potato dextrose agar (pH 7), and incubated at 22°C. Pure cultures formed a whitish dense mycelial mat and turned gray after 72 h. Conidia were ellipsoid, hyaline, nonseptate, and formed on botryose heads. They ranged from 5.8 to 9 × 8.1 to 13.7 μm (average 8.6 × 10.2 μm). Black, round, and irregular microsclerotia developed on 7-day-old cultures with an average size of 1.1 × 1.7 mm. Morphological characteristics agree with those described for Botrytis cinerea Pers.:Fr (1). Pathogenicity was tested on 10 12-month-old potted blueberry plants cv. O'Neal by spraying a suspension of 1 × 106 conidia per ml of sterile distilled water. Ten plants used as controls were sprayed with sterile distilled water. Each plant was covered with a transparent polyethylene bag for 48 h and incubated at 20 ± 2°C in humid chambers for 15 days. Lesions similar to those observed in the fields developed after 4 days and asexual fructifications developed after 5 days. The same pathogen was reisolated from the lesions, thus completing Koch's postulates. Water-treated plants remained symptomless. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a disease caused by B. cinerea on blueberry in Buenos Aires, Córdoba, and Entre Ríos provinces of Argentina. References: (1) M. V. Ellis and J. M. Waller. Sclerotinia fuckeliana (conidial state: Botrytis cinerea) No. 431 in: Descriptions of Pathogenic Fungi and Bacteria. CMI, Kew, Surrey, UK, 1974.
Recent Outbreak of Fusarium Wilt of Basil in Florida
Authors: Datnoff L. E. , Liang L. Z. , Wick R. L. 
Published: May 2007

Symptoms of wilt, leaf chlorosis, leaf drop, and shoot and plant death were observed in commercial fields of basil (Ocimmum basilicum L.). Disease incidence ranged from 10 to 80% among individual fields. Initial isolations from infected stem tissue were made on water agar amended with streptomycin sulfate. Single-spore isolates transferred onto corn leaf agar were identified as Fusarium oxysporum Schlechtend.:Fr. f. sp. basilicum Dzidzariya. Pathogenicity tests were performed on 10-cm-tall basil plants, cv. Siam Queen, for three Florida isolates and one Massachusetts isolate. An inoculum concentration of 1 × 106 conidia per ml was applied to soil around the roots. Symptoms of wilt, external stem discoloration, and death of basil occurred after 14 days, and F. oxysporum f. sp. basilicum was reisolated from plants inoculated with all four isolates. Controls were disease-free. Identification of the isolates as F. oxysporum f. sp. basilicum was done with a set of DNA primers developed by Pan and Wick (2) for a 0.7-kb DNA fragment unique to this pathogen. This report confirms the existence of F. oxysporum f. sp. basilicum in Florida (1), and identifies this disease as a potential threat to commercial basil production. References: (1) S. A. Alfieri et al. Diseases and Disorders of Plants in Florida. Bull. No. 14. Fla. Dept. Agric. Consumer Serv., 1993. (2) Z. Pan and R. L. Wick. Phytopathology 85:1559, 1995.
First Report of Fusarium solani f. sp. cucurbitae Race 1 in Spain
Authors: García-Jiménez J. , Armengol J. , Moya M. J. , Sales R. 
Published: May 2007

A crown, root, and fruit rot of squash (Cucurbita maxima Duchesne) was first observed in 1995 and again in 1996 in several fields in the eastern provinces of Valencia and Castellón. When plants approach maturity they exhibited a severe cortical rot at the base of the stem and the upper portion of the taproot causing yellowing and wilting of the leaves. Within a few days of the first symptoms of crown rot, affected plants usually died. Soft, circular lesions developed where fruit were in contact with soil. Isolations on potato dextrose agar supplemented with 0.5 mg/ml of streptomycin sulfate (PDAS) from the crown of symptomatic plants and fruits yielded primarily a Fusarium sp. Isolates were transferred to potato sucrose agar (PSA) and Bilay's medium, modified by Joffe (SNA), and incubated at 25°C for 10 days with a 12-h photoperiod. The isolates were identified as Fusarium solani (Mart.) Sacc. based on colony morphology on PSA and fungal morphology on SNA. C. maxima (cv. Dulce de Horno) seedlings (eight replicates per isolate) grown on a sterilized mixture of equal portions (vol/vol) of soil, sand, and peat moss were inoculated at the first true leaf stage by introducing a 10-ml spore suspension (106 spores per ml) at the base of plants. Symptoms appeared in 14 to 21 days as linear, coalescing, cortical lesions in the hypocotyl of inoculated plants and ultimately caused seedling death. There were no differences observed in the five isolates tested, regardless of origin. Mature fruits were inoculated by injecting spore suspension (106 spores per ml) into the mesocarp. Within 14 to 21 days after inoculation, lesions developed similar to those observed in the field. Stem isolates were pathogenic on the fruit, and fruit isolates were pathogenic on stems. Reference isolates NRLL 22165 and NRRL 22449 for race 1, and NRRL 20545 and NRRL 22144 for race 2, provided by K. O'Donnell, were also tested as positive controls. Only race 1 isolates caused seedling death. In each study, the fungus was reisolated, confirming Koch's postulates. Based on these results and disease symptoms in the field, the fungus was classified as F. solani f. sp. cucurbitae W. C. Snyder & H. N. Hans race 1, which causes a root, stem, and fruit rot, whereas race 2 causes only a fruit rot (1). F. solani also was isolated from seeds removed from diseased fruits. This is the first report of the presence of F. solani f. sp. cucurbitae race 1 in Spain. Reference: (1) T. A. Tousson and W. C. Snyder. Phytopathology 51:17, 1961.
Cucumber Mosaic Virus Associated with Leaf Malformation and Stunting in Adiantum pedatum
Authors: Nameth S. T. , Steininger J. 
Published: May 2007

Adiantum pedatum (maidenhair fern) is a fern commonly used in landscapes and interiorscapes for its attractive foliage. A. pedatum is quite hardy and under conditions of good soil fertility it can become highly intrusive if left unchecked. Maidenhair fern showing symptoms associated with possible virus infection were collected from the Chadwick Arboretum on the campus of The Ohio State University, Columbus. The leaves of the affected plants were slightly malformed such that the pinnules were arranged irregularly at the pinna. The sequence of the pinnae on the rachis and the general appearance of the rachis were distorted. Overall, the symptoms observed were not as severe as those described by Nienhaus et al. on other species of ferns (1). Viral-associated double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) analysis was used to analyze tissue from symptomatic and asymptomatic plants for evidence of virus infection. Results of dsRNA analysis gave evidence of a possible cucumovirus. There was no evidence of dsRNA in the asymptomatic tissue. Symptomatic tissue was subsequently tested for cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) with a direct antibody sandwich, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). ELISA results were positive for CMV in symptomatic tissue and negative for CMV in asymptomatic tissue. This is the first report of a virus associated with a disease in A. pedatum. Reference: (1) F. Nienhaus et al. Z. Pflanzenkrankh. Pflanzenschutz 9:533, 1974.
The First Report of the Teleomorph of Colletotrichum acutatum in the United States
Authors: Guerber J. C. , Correll J. C. 
Published: May 2007

Colletotrichum acutatum J. H. Simmonds is an important pathogen with a worldwide distribution and is involved in diseases and disease complexes of a number of economically important hosts (2). Three taxa, namely C. acutatum, C. gloeosporioides (Penz.) Penz. & Sacc. in Penz. (self-sterile/heterothallic isolates), and Glomerella cingulata (Stoneman) Spaulding & H. Schrenk (self-fertile/homothallic isolates), are involved in bitter rot disease of apple in the southeastern U.S. The three species can be distinguished based on morphological criteria, growth rates, and mtDNA restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) (1,3). In studies of sexual compatibility, isolates of C. acutatum from apple readily produced perithecia in artificial culture on a minimal agar salts medium under continuous light when mated with isolates of C. acutatum that belonged to different vegetative compatibility groups. Sexual recombination between parental isolates was confirmed by examination of the segregation of genetic markers (nitrate nonutilizing [nit] mutants, sulfate nonutilizing [sul] mutants, and chromogenic pigmentation) among randomly collected ascospore progeny. No perithecia were observed when isolates of C. acutatum were crossed with homothallic isolates of G. cingulata or heterothallic isolates of C. gloeosporioides. Several isolates of C. acutatum from apple and one from blueberry that produced perithecia in mating studies had an identical or very similar mtDNA RFLP haplotype. Efforts are underway to characterize the teleomorphic form of C. acutatum. References: (1) J. C. Correll et al. Phytopathology 83:1412, 1993. (2) P. R. Johnston and D. Jones. Mycologia 89:420, 1997. (3) Y. Shi et al. Plant Dis. 80:692, 1996.
First Report of Botrytis Blight, Caused by Botrytis cinerea, on Coneflowers
Authors: Chang K. F. , Howard R. J. , Hwang S. F. 
Published: May 2007

Coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea (L.) Moench and E. pallida (Nutt.) Nutt. var. angustifolia (DC.) Cronq.) are popular medicinal herbs in North America and Europe. In May 1997, a previously undescribed disease was observed in a commercial field of 3-year-old E. pallida var. angustifolia plants in Vernon, British Columbia, Canada. Diseased plants had small to large, brown or black lesions on leaves and stems. Botrytis cinerea Pers.:Fr. (1,2) was consistently isolated from affected tissues. The pathogen appeared to infect leaves along the margins and tips, and occasionally on other parts of the blade as well. Lesions expanded rapidly under cool, humid conditions. Once the pathogen had invaded the midrib or veins, it advanced rapidly to the petiole and stem, which resulted in collapse of the leaf. The pathogen produced profuse conidia and mycelia on the surface of dead and dying leaves, stems, and blossoms, which resulted in a moldy gray appearance. Under dry conditions, the disease developed slowly or even became quiescent. Large lesions often split and formed holes in leaves. The average size of the conidia produced on naturally infected leaves ranged from 5.5 to 10.5 × 6.8 to 18.3 μm (average 8.1 × 13.0 μm), and on potato dextrose agar (1-month-old culture) ranged from 5.5 to 10.0 × 7.5 to 16.3 μm (average 7.4 × 11.3 μm) based on 100 spore measurements, respectively. Microsclerotia were round, spherical or irregular in shape, and ranged from 1.1 to 3.6 × 1.0 to 3.0 mm. Koch's postulates were verified by spraying potted, 3-month-old, narrow-leaved coneflower (E. pallida var. angustifolia) and 2-year-old purple coneflower (E. purpurea) plants with a spore suspension (4 × 105 conidia/ml). Inoculated plants were enclosed in transparent plastic bags for 7 days at 15/22°C (night/day) with a 12-h photoperiod. Typical symptoms were produced 2 to 7 days after inoculation. Some infected leaves quickly twisted and dried after removal of the plastic bags. Botrytis cinerea was reisolated from the affected tissues. This is the first report of Botrytis blight on Echinacea spp. Although B. cinerea does not usually kill coneflower plants, it often heavily infects disc flowers and young shoots. Therefore, Botrytis blight could have a significant impact on the establishment and productivity of this crop in both the field and greenhouse, especially under cool, wet, growing conditions. References: (1) J. R. Coley-Smith et al. 1980. The Biology of Botrytis. Academic Press, New York. (2) D. J. Morgan. Trans. Br. Mycol. Soc. 56:319, 1971.