PhytopathologyPub Date : 2025-08-15DOI: 10.1094/PHYTO-04-25-0130-R
Jaime Jiménez, Carolina Juncá-Morales, Myrto Mela, Victor Sadras, Aránzazu Moreno, Alberto Fereres
{"title":"Impact of Drought and Virus Infection on Plant Traits, Virus Transmission Rate and Aphid Feeding Behavior.","authors":"Jaime Jiménez, Carolina Juncá-Morales, Myrto Mela, Victor Sadras, Aránzazu Moreno, Alberto Fereres","doi":"10.1094/PHYTO-04-25-0130-R","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-04-25-0130-R","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Climate change is projected to increase the intensity and frequency of drought in several regions, potentially impacting aphid-virus-plant relationships. Here, we investigated the combined effects of water regime and virus infection on plant traits, virus transmission, and aphid feeding behaviour. Two factorial experiments were established that combined (i) four virus treatments: single infection with cucumber mosaic virus, CMV (non-persistent), single infection with cucurbit aphid-borne yellows virus CABYV (persistent), double infection and mock control, with (ii) five water regimes on melon cv. Bazan (exp. 1) or two water regimes on melon cv. Piel de Sapo (exp. 2). Virus and drought reduced plant dry weight, number of leaves, and leaf area. In exp. 1, drought reduced symptom severity on CMV-infected plants. Severe drought did not affect CMV inoculation rate, but transient, moderate water stress reduced the transmission rate of CABYV. In exp. 2 drought and virus infection altered the feeding behavior of <i>A. gossypii</i>. On well-watered but not on droughted plants, both CABYV and double infection with CABYV and CMV reduced passive phloem sap ingestion (E2 waveform), critical for transmission of persistent viruses, in comparison to mock-inoculated controls. On droughted plants, aphids produced shorter intracellular punctures (waveform pd), associated with transmission of non-persistent viruses. However, pd duration was not reduced for aphids that fed on droughted plants infected with CMV or with both CMV and CABYV. Despite the significant impact of drought on the plant phenotype, drought combined with virus infection had no impact on aphid feeding behavior related to virus transmission.</p>","PeriodicalId":20410,"journal":{"name":"Phytopathology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144856163","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
PhytopathologyPub Date : 2025-08-04DOI: 10.1094/PHYTO-05-25-0187-R
Jonas Anderegg, Lukas Roth, Radek Zenkl, Bruce A McDonald
{"title":"Quantifying the Predictability of Lesion Growth and Its Contribution to Quantitative Resistance Using Field Phenomics.","authors":"Jonas Anderegg, Lukas Roth, Radek Zenkl, Bruce A McDonald","doi":"10.1094/PHYTO-05-25-0187-R","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-05-25-0187-R","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Measuring individual components of pathogen reproduction is key to understanding mechanisms underlying rate-reducing quantitative resistance (QR). Simulation models predict that lesion expansion plays a key role in seasonal epidemics of foliar diseases, but measuring lesion growth with sufficient precision and scale to test these predictions under field conditions has remained impractical. We used deep learning-based image analysis to track 6889 individual lesions caused by <i>Zymoseptoria tritici</i> on 14 wheat cultivars across two field seasons, enabling 27,218 precise and objective measurements of lesion growth in the field. Lesion appearance traits reflecting specific interactions between particular host and pathogen genotypes were consistently associated with lesion growth, whereas overall effects of host genotype and environment were modest. Both host cultivar and cultivar-by-environment interaction effects on lesion growth were highly significant and moderately heritable (h2 ≥ 0.40). After excluding a single outlier cultivar, a strong and statistically significant association between lesion growth and overall QR was found. Lesion expansion appears to be an important component of QR to STB in most-but not all-wheat cultivars, underscoring its potential as a selection target. By facilitating the dissection of individual resistance components, our approach can support more targeted, knowledge-based breeding for durable QR.</p>","PeriodicalId":20410,"journal":{"name":"Phytopathology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144785141","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
PhytopathologyPub Date : 2025-08-04DOI: 10.1094/PHYTO-02-25-0043-FI
Martha A Sudermann, Zachary S L Foster, Samantha C L Dawson, Hung Phan, Valerie J Fieland, Frank N Martin, Jeff H Chang, Niklaus J Grünwald
{"title":"Demulticoder: An R Package for the Simultaneous Analysis of Multiplexed Metabarcodes.","authors":"Martha A Sudermann, Zachary S L Foster, Samantha C L Dawson, Hung Phan, Valerie J Fieland, Frank N Martin, Jeff H Chang, Niklaus J Grünwald","doi":"10.1094/PHYTO-02-25-0043-FI","DOIUrl":"10.1094/PHYTO-02-25-0043-FI","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Metabarcoding is a widely used approach relying on short DNA sequences to identify organisms present in a community. Although established workflows exist for analysis of single metabarcodes, these are cumbersome when multiple metabarcodes are required to study diverse taxa, such as those in plant- and soil-associated microbial communities, or when analyzing newly developed metabarcodes. To address this, we developed demulticoder, an R package automating the use of DADA2 to analyze data derived from multiple metabarcodes. It has novel capabilities that streamline data analysis by reducing the number of manual input steps and enabling automated processing of multiplexed metabarcodes. Additionally, demulticoder modularizes data processing to allow for iterative quality control and reformats data for downstream analyses. We also updated the oomycete-specific <i>rps10</i> barcode database by revising the taxonomic information of select entries based on updates to the classifications within the NCBI Taxonomy database. A multiplex sequenced dataset consisting of ITS1 and <i>rps10</i> metabarcodes from 162 samples and 12 controls was analyzed to compare demulticoder against a standard analysis workflow. Demulticoder required manual input at only four steps in comparison with 28 steps required for the standard workflow. Data quality and results from downstream exploratory, diversity, and differential abundance analyses were comparable to those from the standard workflow. Demulticoder is versatile and can be used to analyze datasets consisting of single metabarcodes, multiplexed and pooled metabarcode types, and different metabarcode types generated in separate experiments. The demulticoder R package, example datasets, and instructions are publicly accessible and open source.</p>","PeriodicalId":20410,"journal":{"name":"Phytopathology","volume":" ","pages":"PHYTO02250043FI"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143994869","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
PhytopathologyPub Date : 2025-08-04DOI: 10.1094/PHYTO-02-25-0042-FI
Amandeep Kaur, Albert Sunny, Jeffrey B Jones, Erica M Goss
{"title":"Investigating Plasmid Diversity in <i>Xanthomonas euvesicatoria</i> pv. <i>perforans</i> Population.","authors":"Amandeep Kaur, Albert Sunny, Jeffrey B Jones, Erica M Goss","doi":"10.1094/PHYTO-02-25-0042-FI","DOIUrl":"10.1094/PHYTO-02-25-0042-FI","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Plasmids are key drivers of horizontal gene transfer. These genetic elements promote diversification and rapid adaptation of bacterial populations to changing environments by transferring beneficial traits within and between bacterial species. <i>Xanthomonas euvesicatoria</i> pv. <i>perforans</i> is a devastating plant pathogen that causes bacterial spot disease in tomato and pepper. The pathogen population in Florida contains several distinct genetic lineages that differ in relative frequency. The objective of this study was to characterize plasmid diversity and gene content and plasmid distribution in relation to chromosomal phylogeny. Our in silico-based plasmid prediction revealed the presence of diverse plasmids ranging from approximately 16 to 235 kb. A network approach based on shared <i>k</i>-mer content uncovered 10 distinct plasmid groups with high genetic similarity (cliques). Interestingly, these plasmid cliques were confined to specific phylogenetic clusters, suggesting potential incompatibility or restricted plasmid movement between clusters. Some of the predicted plasmids carry virulence genes coding for type III secretion effectors, including transcription activator-like effectors and genes related to biocide resistance, such as copper. We also identified gene reshuffling between the plasmids, likely carried out by transposons present within them. Overall, these results provide foundational insights into plasmid diversity in <i>X. euvesicatoria</i> pv. <i>perforans</i> with implications for the role of these mobile genetic elements in genome dynamics and pathogen adaptation.</p>","PeriodicalId":20410,"journal":{"name":"Phytopathology","volume":" ","pages":"PHYTO02250042FI"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144025758","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
PhytopathologyPub Date : 2025-08-02DOI: 10.1094/PHYTO-01-25-0008-FI
Kaique S Alves, Denis A Shah, Hellen R Dillard, Emerson M Del Ponte, Sarah J Pethybridge
{"title":"Safer and Smarter: Leveraging Interpretation-Guided Modeling and Data Merging of Disease and Environmental Data for Plant Disease Risk Prediction.","authors":"Kaique S Alves, Denis A Shah, Hellen R Dillard, Emerson M Del Ponte, Sarah J Pethybridge","doi":"10.1094/PHYTO-01-25-0008-FI","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-01-25-0008-FI","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Plant disease epidemiologists often work with datasets smaller than ideal for data-hungry machine learning (ML) algorithms, thereby risking overfitting. We demonstrate how an interpretation-guided modeling approach, leveraging complex ML primarily for insight generation, can overcome this challenge, using white mold (caused by <i>Sclerotinia sclerotiorum</i>) in snap beans (<i>Phaseolus vulgaris</i>) as a case study. An observational dataset of white mold prevalence across 356 commercial snap bean fields in central and western New York State (2006-2008) was augmented by merging georeferenced observations with POLARIS soils data and engineered features from downscaled ERA5-Land environmental data. Functional data analysis identified weather periods associated with white mold risk, and random forests (RF), used interpretatively, identified key predictors. While RF models showed high apparent performance, they exhibited significant overfitting and poor calibration. Insights from RF interpretation (via SHapley Additive exPlanations analysis) guided the development of a simpler, four-predictor logistic regression model using restricted cubic splines. This simpler model was better calibrated and had acceptable discrimination (internally-validated C-statistic = 0.77). For smaller epidemiological datasets, our results advocate using ML primarily as an interpretive tool to guide the development of simpler, less data-intensive, yet robust predictive models better suited for practical disease management decisions.</p>","PeriodicalId":20410,"journal":{"name":"Phytopathology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144768951","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
PhytopathologyPub Date : 2025-08-01DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-82-577
Drissa Silué, Jean Loup Notteghem, Didier Tharreau
{"title":"Evidence of a Gene-for-Gene Relationship in the <i>Oryza sativa</i>-<i>Magnaporthe grisea</i> Pathosystem.","authors":"Drissa Silué, Jean Loup Notteghem, Didier Tharreau","doi":"10.1094/Phyto-82-577","DOIUrl":"10.1094/Phyto-82-577","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>A cross was made between two field isolates of <i>Magnaporthe grisea</i> pathogenic to rice. Full-sib crosses between F<sub>1</sub> ascospores, followed by backcrosses to the female fertile parent GUY11, produced perithecia fertile enough for tetrad isolation. Genetic analysis of the pathogen revealed that avirulence to the rice cultivar Pi-n°4 is controlled by one gene (<i>Avr1-Pi-n°4</i>) unlinked to the gene MAT1-1, which is responsible for mating type. Additionally, resistance of Pi-n°4 was found to be controlled by one gene. Thus, existence of a gene-for-gene relationship was shown for the pathosystem <i>Oryza sativa-M. grisea</i>.</p>","PeriodicalId":20410,"journal":{"name":"Phytopathology","volume":"82 1","pages":"577-580"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"61208077","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
PhytopathologyPub Date : 2025-08-01DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-57-1285
G V Gooding, T T Hebert
{"title":"A Simple Technique for Purification of Tobacco Mosaic Virus in Large Quantities.","authors":"G V Gooding, T T Hebert","doi":"10.1094/Phyto-57-1285","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1094/Phyto-57-1285","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":20410,"journal":{"name":"Phytopathology","volume":"115 8V","pages":"1285"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145041118","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
PhytopathologyPub Date : 2025-08-01DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-59-153
Donald H Marx
{"title":"The Influence of Ectotrophic Mycorrhizal Fungi on the Resistance of Pine Roots to Pathogenic Infections. I. Antagonism of Mycorrhizal Fungi to Root Pathogenic Fungi and Soil Bacteria.","authors":"Donald H Marx","doi":"10.1094/Phyto-59-153","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1094/Phyto-59-153","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Antagonism of ectotrophic mycorrhizal fungi to <i>Phytophthora cinnamomi</i>, other root pathogenic fungi, and soil bacteria was examined. In agar plate tests, <i>Laccaria laccata</i>, <i>Lactarius deliciosus</i>, <i>Leucopaxillus cerealis</i> var. <i>piceina</i>, <i>Pisolithus tinctorius</i>, and <i>Suillus luteus</i> inhibited growth of nearly half of the 48 different fungal root pathogens. <i>Leucopaxillus cerealis</i> var. <i>piceina</i> inhibited 92% of the test pathogens. Differences in sensitivity of several isolates of <i>P. cinnamomi</i> to inhibitions by this symbiont were not found. Culture filtrates of <i>L. cerealis</i> var. <i>piceina</i> were inhibitory also to growth of <i>P. cinnamomi</i> and soil bacteria. Zoospore germination was inhibited completely in filtrates of this symbiont. Maximum antibiotic production occurred during the rapid growth phase in liquid culture. Length of culture incubation and temperature strongly influenced production of inhibitory substances by <i>L. cerealis</i> var. <i>piceina</i> in liquid culture. It grew best from 10 to 20 C, whereas <i>P. tinctorius</i> grew best from 30 to 35 C in liquid culture.</p>","PeriodicalId":20410,"journal":{"name":"Phytopathology","volume":"115 8V","pages":"153-163"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145041056","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
PhytopathologyPub Date : 2025-08-01Epub Date: 2025-08-05DOI: 10.1094/PHYTO-02-25-0073-R
Albert M Nguyen, Helga Förster, James E Adaskaveg
{"title":"Moderate and High Propiconazole Resistance Characterized in the Citrus Postharvest Sour Rot Pathogen <i>Geotrichum citri-aurantii</i> Is Based on Point Mutations in <i>CYP51A</i> but Not <i>CYP51B</i>.","authors":"Albert M Nguyen, Helga Förster, James E Adaskaveg","doi":"10.1094/PHYTO-02-25-0073-R","DOIUrl":"10.1094/PHYTO-02-25-0073-R","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Moderate (MR) and high resistance (HR) in <i>Geotrichum citri-aurantii</i> to propiconazole (PPZ) have been detected in California citrus packinghouses. Fitness cost and resistance mechanisms were characterized in this study. No fitness cost was identified in resistant isolates, and they were highly virulent and competitive in the presence of sensitive (S) isolates. F1 ascospore progeny from crosses between MR or HR isolates and an S isolate mostly segregated in a 1:1 ratio of S to R isolates, indicating involvement of a single gene in resistance. Resistance was associated with point mutations in <i>GcaCYP51A</i> resulting in Y143F and L389V amino acid substitutions in HR isolates and an A125V substitution in MR isolates. There were no sequence differences in the <i>GcaCYP51B</i> paralog between S and MR isolates, but missense and silent mutations were identified in HR isolates. Segregation of <i>GcaCYP51B</i> alleles was observed in crosses between S and HR isolates: some PPZ-S progeny carried the <i>GcaCYP51B-</i>HR allele, whereas some PPZ-HR isolates carried the <i>GcaCYP51B</i>-S allele. Therefore, mutations in <i>GcaCYP51B</i> have no major role in PPZ resistance. The direct involvement of mutations in <i>GcaCYP51A</i> in resistance was demonstrated by transformation of a PPZ-S isolate with cloned alleles from MR or HR isolates, where transformants exhibited the expected resistance phenotype. Transformants carrying the <i>GcaCYP51B</i> allele of HR isolates, however, remained sensitive. No differences between S and R phenotypes were detected in the promoter sequences of <i>GcaCYP51A</i> or <i>GcaCYP51B</i>. Our data indicate that PPZ resistance in <i>G. citri-aurantii</i> is solely determined by point mutations in <i>GcaCYP51A</i>.</p>","PeriodicalId":20410,"journal":{"name":"Phytopathology","volume":" ","pages":"986-997"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143991265","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}