S Marincowitz, N Q Pham, B D Wingfield, F Roets, M J Wingfield
{"title":"Microfungi associated with dying <i>Euphorbia mauritanica</i> in South Africa and their relative pathogenicity.","authors":"S Marincowitz, N Q Pham, B D Wingfield, F Roets, M J Wingfield","doi":"10.3114/fuse.2023.12.04","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p><i>Euphorbia mauritanica</i> is a succulent shrub that is indigenous to South Africa and widely distributed throughout the country. Dying plants have been observed in their natural habitat in the Northern and Western Cape Provinces of South Africa in recent years. Stems displaying lesions were collected and the emerging cultures were identified based on ITS, LSU, <i>ACT</i>, <i>RPB2</i>, <i>TEF1</i> and/or <i>TUB2</i> sequence data. Four filamentous fungi were consistently observed and isolated. One was identified as <i>Alanphillipsia</i> (<i>Ala.</i>) <i>aloes</i>, and the other three were new to science and are described here as <i>Cytospora euphorbiicola sp. nov</i>., <i>Nothomicrosphaeropsis namakwaensis sp. nov</i>. and <i>Austrophoma</i> (<i>Aus</i>.) <i>euphorbiae gen. et sp. nov.</i> These new species and <i>Ala. aloes</i> were the most commonly encountered, and their pathogenicity was tested on <i>E. mauritanica</i> plants in a greenhouse trial. All four species gave rise to lesions that were significantly larger than those associated with the controls, but they were not significantly different to each other. Although the lesions associated with the inoculations were well-developed, they did not give rise to plant death, suggesting that they are not responsible for the large-scale die-off of <i>E. mauritanica</i> in the field. The primary cause of the death of <i>E. mauritanica</i> in the studied area remains unknown and could be due to environmental factors such as has been found with the die-off of <i>Euphorbia ingens</i> in South Africa. <b>Citation:</b> Marincowitz S, Pham NQ, Wingfield BD, Roets F, Wingfield MJ (2023). Microfungi associated with dying <i>Euphorbia mauritanica</i> in South Africa and their relative pathogenicity. <i>Fungal Systematics and Evolution</i> <b>12</b>: 59-71. doi: 10.3114/fuse.2023.12.04.</p>","PeriodicalId":14791,"journal":{"name":"Island Arc","volume":"10 1","pages":"59-71"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0000,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10976952/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Island Arc","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.3114/fuse.2023.12.04","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2023/7/31 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"GEOSCIENCES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Euphorbia mauritanica is a succulent shrub that is indigenous to South Africa and widely distributed throughout the country. Dying plants have been observed in their natural habitat in the Northern and Western Cape Provinces of South Africa in recent years. Stems displaying lesions were collected and the emerging cultures were identified based on ITS, LSU, ACT, RPB2, TEF1 and/or TUB2 sequence data. Four filamentous fungi were consistently observed and isolated. One was identified as Alanphillipsia (Ala.) aloes, and the other three were new to science and are described here as Cytospora euphorbiicola sp. nov., Nothomicrosphaeropsis namakwaensis sp. nov. and Austrophoma (Aus.) euphorbiae gen. et sp. nov. These new species and Ala. aloes were the most commonly encountered, and their pathogenicity was tested on E. mauritanica plants in a greenhouse trial. All four species gave rise to lesions that were significantly larger than those associated with the controls, but they were not significantly different to each other. Although the lesions associated with the inoculations were well-developed, they did not give rise to plant death, suggesting that they are not responsible for the large-scale die-off of E. mauritanica in the field. The primary cause of the death of E. mauritanica in the studied area remains unknown and could be due to environmental factors such as has been found with the die-off of Euphorbia ingens in South Africa. Citation: Marincowitz S, Pham NQ, Wingfield BD, Roets F, Wingfield MJ (2023). Microfungi associated with dying Euphorbia mauritanica in South Africa and their relative pathogenicity. Fungal Systematics and Evolution12: 59-71. doi: 10.3114/fuse.2023.12.04.
期刊介绍:
Island Arc is the official journal of the Geological Society of Japan. This journal focuses on the structure, dynamics and evolution of convergent plate boundaries, including trenches, volcanic arcs, subducting plates, and both accretionary and collisional orogens in modern and ancient settings. The Journal also opens to other key geological processes and features of broad interest such as oceanic basins, mid-ocean ridges, hot spots, continental cratons, and their surfaces and roots. Papers that discuss the interaction between solid earth, atmosphere, and bodies of water are also welcome. Articles of immediate importance to other researchers, either by virtue of their new data, results or ideas are given priority publication.
Island Arc publishes peer-reviewed articles and reviews. Original scientific articles, of a maximum length of 15 printed pages, are published promptly with a standard publication time from submission of 3 months. All articles are peer reviewed by at least two research experts in the field of the submitted paper.