ABSTRACT
Research in recent years has shown that some species of predatory mites, considered to be typically associated with soil and litter, can also be found on plants. Such species include Blattisocius mali, which is an effective predator of acarid mites, nematodes and the eggs of moths and which can disperse by means of drosophilid fruit flies. Apart from soil and litter or storage, it has also been recorded on the bark of apple trees and the leaves of strawberries, thus suggesting its possible predation of/feeding on herbivorous mites and insects. Our goal was to examine whether B. mali could consume different development stages of two polyphagous herbivores, the two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae, and the western flower thrips, Frankliniella occidentalis, as well as the drosophilid fruit fly Drosophila hydei. In 24 h cage tests, single, starved B. mali females consumed all types of prey offered, i.e., the eggs, males and females of spider mites; the first-instar larvae and prepupae of thrips; and the eggs and first-instar larvae of fruit flies. The potential for B. mali to prey upon these insects and mites was confirmed. However, to estimate whether it can also effectively reduce their population, additional tests on the predator's survival, fecundity and prey preference are needed.
ABSTRACT
Godronia canker caused by Godronia myrtilli (Feltgen) J.K. Stone is considered one of the most dangerous diseases of blueberry crops. The purpose of the study was the phenotypic characterization and phylogenetic analysis of this fungus. Infected stems were collected from blueberry crops in the Mazovian, Lublin, and West Pomeranian Voivodships in 2016-2020. Twenty-four Godronia isolates were identified and tested. The isolates were identified on the basis of their morphology and molecular characteristics (PCR). The average conidia size was 9.36 ± 0.81 × 2.45 ± 0.37 µm. The conidia were hyaline, ellipsoid or straight, two-celled, rounded, or terminally pointed. The pathogen growth dynamics were tested on six media: PDA, CMA, MEA, SNA, PCA, and Czapek. The fastest daily growth of fungal isolates was observed on SNA and PCA, and the slowest on CMA and MEA. Pathogen rDNA amplification was performed with ITS1F and ITS4A primers. The obtained DNA sequence of the fungus showed 100% nucleotide similarity to the reference sequence deposited in the GenBank. Molecular characterization of G. myrtilli isolates was performed for the first time in this study.
ABSTRACT
Fusarium temperatum Scaufl. & Munaut is a newly described taxon belonging to the Fusarium fujikuroi species complex (FFSC) and a frequent causative factor of maize ear rot. The aim of the present study was to determine the responses to the disease in maize populations differing in endosperm features that were classified to flint, dent, and a group of plants with intermediate kernel characteristics. In inoculation studies, substantial variation of host response to the fungus was found among the tested maize types. The dent-type kernels contained significantly less amylose (28.27%) and exhibited significantly higher rates of infection (IFER = 2.10) and contamination by beauvericin (7.40 mg kg-1) than plants of the flint maize subpopulation. The study documents a significant positive correlation between the Fusarium ear rot intensity (IFER) and ergosterol content (the R value ranged from 0.396 in 2015 to 0.735 in 2018) and between IFER and the presence of beauvericin (the R value ranged from 0.364 in 2015 to 0.785 in 2017). The negative correlation between (IFER) and amylose content (ranging from R = -0.303 to R= -0.180) stresses the role of the endosperm starch composition in the kernel resistance to Fusarium ear rot. The conducted study indicated that the risk of kernel infection and contamination with fungal metabolites (beauvericin and ergosterol) was associated with the maize type kernels.
Subject(s)
Fusarium , Amylose/metabolism , Endosperm , Ergosterol , Fusarium/metabolism , Plant Diseases/microbiology , Starch/metabolism , Zea mays/microbiologyABSTRACT
Fusarium temperatum (Scaufl. & Munaut) is one of the most important fungal pathogens that cause ear and stalk rots in maize. In this study, we sequenced genomes of two F. temperatum isolates (KFI615 and KFI660) isolated from corn ears in Poland. A total of 110.3 and 116.3 million 100-nucleotide paired-end clean reads were obtained for KFI615 and KFI660, which were assembled into 20 and 18 scaffolds with an estimated genome size of 45.21 and 45.00 Mb, respectively. These genome sequences provide important resources for understanding pathogenicity and biology of the pathogens within the Fusarium fujikuroi complex.[Formula: see text] Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
