Colletotrichum siamense Identified as the Causal Agent of Anthracnose in Eugenia dysenterica in the Brazilian Cerrado

Abstract

Eugenia dysenterica, commonly known as cagaiteira, is a plant native to the Cerrado biome that produces edible fruits and has medicinal properties. Cagaita fruit exhibiting anthracnose symptoms were collected from naturally occurring plants in native fragments of the Cerrado Biome at Gurupi, Tocantins, Brazil. Pathogenicity tests and microscopic examinations of infected tissues showed acervuli and conidia typical of Colletotrichum as the cause of the anthracnose symptoms. Molecular identification was performed by amplifying and sequencing the partial region of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), the intergenic spacer between DNA lyase and the mating-type locus MAT1-2-1 (APN2/MAT-IGS), glutamine synthetase (GS) and β-tubulin (TUB2). Maximum-likelihood multi-locus analysis placed the three isolates with strains of C. siamense with 99% bootstrap support. This study provides the first report of C. siamense causing anthracnose in E. dysenterica worldwide.