Fusarium and allied fusarioid taxa (FUSA). 1.

Seven Fusarium species complexes are treated, namely F. aywerte species complex (FASC) (two species), F. buharicum species complex (FBSC) (five species), F. burgessii species complex (FBURSC) (three species), F. camptoceras species complex (FCAMSC) (three species), F. chlamydosporum species complex (FCSC) (eight species), F. citricola species complex (FCCSC) (five species) and the F. concolor species complex (FCOSC) (four species). New species include Fusicolla elongata from soil (Zimbabwe), and Neocosmospora geoasparagicola from soil associated with Asparagus officinalis (Netherlands). New combinations include Neocosmospora akasia, N. awan, N. drepaniformis, N. duplosperma, N. geoasparagicola, N. mekan, N. papillata, N. variasi and N. warna. Newly validated taxa include Longinectria gen. nov., L. lagenoides, L. verticilliforme, Fusicolla gigas and Fusicolla guangxiensis. Furthermore, Fusarium rosicola is reduced to synonymy under N. brevis. Finally, the genome assemblies of Fusarium secorum (CBS 175.32), Microcera coccophila (CBS 310.34), Rectifusarium robinianum (CBS 430.91), Rugonectria rugulosa (CBS 126565), and Thelonectria blattea (CBS 952.68) are also announced here. Citation: Crous PW, Sandoval-Denis M, Costa MM, Groenewald JZ, van Iperen AL, Starink-Willemse M, Hernández-Restrepo M, Kandemir H, Ulaszewski B, de Boer W, Abdel-Azeem AM, Abdollahzadeh J, Akulov A, Bakhshi M, Bezerra JDP, Bhunjun CS, Câmara MPS, Chaverri P, Vieira WAS, Decock CA, Gaya E, Gené J, Guarro J, Gramaje D, Grube M, Gupta VK, Guarnaccia V, Hill R, Hirooka Y, Hyde KD, Jayawardena RS, Jeewon R, Jurjevic Z, Korsten L, Lamprecht SC, Lombard L, Maharachchikumbura SSN, Polizzi G, Rajeshkumar KC, Salgado-Salazar C, Shang Q-J, Shivas RG, Summerbell RC, Sun GY, Swart WJ, Tan YP, Vizzini A, Xia JW, Zare R, González CD, Iturriaga T, Savary O, Coton M, Coton E, Jany J-L, Liu C, Zeng Z-Q, Zhuang W-Y, Yu Z-H, Thines M (2022). Fusarium and allied fusarioid taxa (FUSA). 1. Fungal Systematics and Evolution 9: 161-200. doi: 10.3114/fuse.2022.09.08.

First Report of Anthracnose Caused by Colletotrichum spaethianum on Hemerocallis flava in Brazil.

In January 2011, leaves of several daylily (Hemerocallis flava L.) plants in nurseries in Vitória da Conquista, northeastern Brazil, showed typical anthracnose symptoms. Reddish brown lesions with a yellow halo were first observed at the tip leaves. As the disease progressed, the lesions rapidly expanded down the leaves, resulting in severe blight. Small pieces up to 5 mm in diameter were removed from the lesion margins, surface sterilized for 1 min in 1.5% NaOCl, washed twice with sterile distilled water, and plated onto potato dextrose agar (PDA) amended with 0.5 g liter-1 streptomycin sulfate. Macroscopic colony characters and microscopic morphology characteristics of two isolates were developed after growth on PDA for 7 days at 25°C under a 12-h light/dark cycle. Colonies presented effuse mycelium, initially white and becoming pale gray, with numerous black structures like sclerotia, setae, and acervuli absent in culture media. Conidia were hyaline, aseptate, curved or slightly curved, round or somewhat acute apex, base truncate, 13.4 to 22.7 (18.2 ± 2.16) µm length, and 3.2 to 5.8 (4.24 ± 0.62) µm width, length/width ratio 4.37, and were typical of Colletotrichum spp. DNA sequencing of partial sequence of actin (ACT), chitin synthase (CHS-1), and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GPD) genes and the internal transcribed spacer (ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 rRNA gene cluster) were conducted to accurately identify the species. Sequences of two daylily isolates were highly similar to those of C. spaethianum (Allesch.) Damm, P.F. Cannon & Crous. A phylogenetic analysis using Bayesian inference and including published ACT, CHS-1, GPDH, and ITS data for C. spaethianum and other Colletotrichum species associated with daylily anthracnose (1,3) showed that the isolated fungi belong to the C. spaethianum clade. Sequences of the isolates obtained in this study were deposited in GenBank (ACT Accession Nos. KC598114 and KC598115; CHS-1 Accession Nos. KC598116 and KC598117; GPDH Accession Nos. KC598118 and KC598119; ITS Accession Nos. KC598120 and KC598121). Cultures are deposited in the Culture Collection of Phytopathogenic Fungi of the Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil (CMM1224 and CMM1225). Pathogenicity tests were conducted with the two C. spaethianum strains on daylily leaves. Mycelial plugs taken from the margin of actively growing colonies (PDA) of each isolate were applied in shallow wounds near the tip leaves. Four detached leaves were inoculated for each isolate, and PDA discs without fungal growth were used as controls. The leaves were maintained in humid chamber for 2 days at 25°C under a 12-h photoperiod. Anthracnose symptoms that closely resembled those observed in the affected nurseries were developed up to 5 days after inoculation. No symptoms developed on the control plants. C. spaethianum was successfully re-isolated from symptomatic plants to fulfill Koch's postulates. C. spaethianum was described from H. fulva and H. citrina in China, Hosta sielbodiana in Germany, and Lilium sp. in South Korea (3), and from Peucedanum praeruptorum in China (2). To our knowledge, this is the first report of C. spaethianum in Brazil and the first report on H. flava. References: (1) U. Damm et al. Fungal Divers. 39:45, 2009. (2) M. Guo et al. Plant Dis. 97:1380, 2013. (3) Y. Yang et al. Trop. Plant Pathol. 37:165, 2012.

First Report of Papaya Fruit Anthracnose Caused by Colletotrichum brevisporum in Brazil.

Papaya fruits (Carica papaya L.) (cv. Golden) showing post-harvest anthracnose symptoms were observed during surveys of papaya disease in northeastern Brazil from 2008 to 2012. Fruits affected by anthracnose showed sunken, prominent, dark brown to black lesions. Small pieces (4 to 5 mm) of necrotic tissue were surface sterilized for 1 min in 1.5% NaOCl, washed twice with sterile distilled water, and plated onto potato dextrose agar (PDA) amended with 0.5 g liter-1 streptomycin sulfate. Macroscopic colony characters and microscopic morphology characteristics of four isolates were observed after growth on PDA (2) for 7 days at 25°C under a 12-hr light/dark cycle. Colonies varied between colorless and pale brown in reverse, with orange conidial mass. Conidia were hyaline, aseptate, cylindrical with round ends, slightly flattened, smooth-walled, guttulate, and 13.5 (10.5 to 17.1) µm × 3.8 (2.1 to 4.8) µm (l/w ratio = 3.5, n = 50), typical of Colletotrichum spp. DNA sequencing of partial sequences of actin (ACT) gene and the internal transcribed spacer (ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 rRNA) were conducted to accurately identify the species. Sequences of the papaya isolates were 99% similar to those of Colletotrichum brevisporum (GenBank Accession Nos. JN050216, JN050217, JN050238, and JN050239). A phylogenetic analysis using Bayesian inference and including published ACT and ITS data for C. brevisporum and other Colletotrichum species was carried out (1). Based on morphological and molecular data, the papaya isolates were identified as C. brevisporum. Conidia of the papaya isolates were narrower than those described for C. brevisporum (2.9 to 4.8 µm and 5 to 6 µm, respectively) (1), which may be due to differences in incubation temperature or a typical variation in conidial size in Colletotrichum species (3). Sequences of the isolates obtained in this study are deposited in GenBank (ACT Accession Nos. KC702903, KC702904, KC702905, and KC702906; ITS Accession Nos. HM163181, HM015851, HM015854, and HM015859). Cultures are deposited in the Culture Collection of Phytopathogenic Fungi of the Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil (CMM 1672, CMM 1702, CMM 1822, and CMM 2005). Pathogenicity testing was conducted with all four strains of C. brevisporum on papaya fruits (cv. Golden). Fruits were wounded at the medium region by pushing the tip of four sterile pins through the surface of the skin to a depth of 3 mm. Mycelial plugs taken from the margin of actively growing colonies (PDA) of each isolate were placed in shallow wounds. PDA discs without fungal growth were used as control. Inoculated fruits were maintained in a humid chamber for 2 days at 25°C in the dark. After 6 days, anthracnose symptoms developed that were typical of diseased fruit in the field. C. brevisporum was successfully reisolated from symptomatic fruits to fulfill Koch's postulates. C. brevisporum was described from Neoregalia sp. and Pandanus pygmaeus in Thailand (1). To our knowledge, this is the first report of C. brevisporum in Brazil and the first report of this species causing papaya fruit anthracnose. References: (1) P. Noireung et al. Cryptogamie Mycol., 33:347, 2012. (2) B. C. Sutton. The Genus Glomerella and its anamorph Colletotrichum. CAB International, Wallingford, UK, 1992. (3) B. S. Weir et al. Stud. Mycol. 73:115, 2012.