Somshetty Ravali, S. Ameer Basha, SNCVL. Pushpavalli, Ahil Sajeli Begum, T. Kiran Babu, Y. Chandra Mohan, Banoth Balaji Naik
{"title":"Case study on Ustilaginoidea virens, the causal agent of rice false smut in India","authors":"Somshetty Ravali, S. Ameer Basha, SNCVL. Pushpavalli, Ahil Sajeli Begum, T. Kiran Babu, Y. Chandra Mohan, Banoth Balaji Naik","doi":"10.1007/s13313-026-01128-8","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s13313-026-01128-8","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Rice false smut, caused by the non-obligate biotrophic fungus <i>Ustilaginoidea virens</i>, is an emerging threat in major rice-growing regions worldwide. The pathogen primarily infects floral organs, leading to the formation of characteristic smut balls. However, the early infection process and disease cycle remain poorly understood, particularly regarding pathogen colonization during vegetative growth stages. This study aimed to elucidate the early stages of <i>U. virens</i> infection from germination to the late booting stage. Field-emission scanning electron microscopy revealed that conidia and chlamydospores of <i>U. virens</i> colonized various rice plant parts prior to floral infection. During early infection (seed to 35-day-old seedlings), the seedlings turned yellow and subsequently became blighted. In contrast, colonization from 60-day-old plants to the late booting stage occurred without visible symptoms. Molecular detection using <i>U. virens</i>-specific primers (US1-5/US3-3) confirmed the presence of <i>U. virens</i> sampled growth stages and plant parts, suggesting continuous asymptomatic colonization before floral infection. Mating-type analysis of 22 <i>U. virens</i> isolates collected from Telangana, India, revealed three isolates with the <i>MAT1-1-1</i> idiomorph, seven with <i>MAT1-2-1</i>, and twelve containing both <i>MAT1-1-1</i> and <i>MAT1-2-1</i> idiomorphs, indicating the presence of homothallic isolates. Simple sequence repeat analysis grouped the 22 isolates into four clusters, with approximately 60% of isolates clustering according to their geographic origin. These findings provide novel insights into the early colonization behavior and reproductive diversity of <i>U. virens</i>, including the first report of homothallic isolates in India.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":8598,"journal":{"name":"Australasian Plant Pathology","volume":"55 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147336727","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Felipe Franco de Oliveira, Camila Haddad Silveira, João Roberto Spotti Lopes, Ivan Paulo Bedendo
{"title":"Limited Persistence of Maize Bushy Stunt Phytoplasma and Survival of its Leafhopper Vector in Forage Grasses","authors":"Felipe Franco de Oliveira, Camila Haddad Silveira, João Roberto Spotti Lopes, Ivan Paulo Bedendo","doi":"10.1007/s13313-026-01115-z","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s13313-026-01115-z","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Maize bushy stunt, caused by phytoplasmas and transmitted by the corn leafhopper (<i>Dalbulus maidis</i>), is a major concern for maize production in Brazil, where it has led to significant yield losses. Although this pathosystem has been the focus of considerable research, important epidemiological gaps remain, particularly regarding inoculum and vector survival between crop seasons and the range of alternative hosts. In this study, we evaluated the survival of the maize bushy stunt phytoplasma and its vector in five widely cultivated forage grass cultivars. None of the tested grasses supported survival of <i>D. maidis</i> adults beyond three days. Phytoplasma was detected in all inoculated grasses 28 days after exposure, but persisted only until the second cutting, after which it was no longer detected. Furthermore, infected grasses did not serve as inoculum sources, as no phytoplasma transmission to maize occurred via <i>D. maidis</i> feeding. These results suggest that the forage grasses examined act as transient or dead-end hosts for maize bushy stunt phytoplasma under natural conditions, limiting their role in the disease epidemiology.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":8598,"journal":{"name":"Australasian Plant Pathology","volume":"55 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2026-02-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s13313-026-01115-z.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147342680","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Giliard Sapper Correia, Jeronimo Vieira de Araujo Filho, Danielle Ribeiro de Barros, Helena Novack Oxley, Matheus Martins Pereira, Patrícia da Silva Grinberg, Jadir Borges Pinheiro, Cesar Bauer Gomes
{"title":"Report, pathogenicity and parasitism habit of Helicotylenchus pseudorobustus on onion","authors":"Giliard Sapper Correia, Jeronimo Vieira de Araujo Filho, Danielle Ribeiro de Barros, Helena Novack Oxley, Matheus Martins Pereira, Patrícia da Silva Grinberg, Jadir Borges Pinheiro, Cesar Bauer Gomes","doi":"10.1007/s13313-026-01107-z","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s13313-026-01107-z","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Spiral nematodes (<i>Helicotylenchus</i> spp.) are globally distributed and are currently considered secondary pests in onion. However, a population of <i>Helicotylenchus</i> was recently detected causing reduced development in an onion-producing area in Rio Grande do Sul state, extreme south of Brazil. In this context, the objective of this study was to conduct a morphological, morphometric, and molecular characterization of this population associated with onion, and to evaluate its reproduction, pathogenicity, and parasitism on onion under greenhouse and laboratory conditions. The experiment was conducted with soil naturally infested with 730 nematodes with individual ‘Bola Precoce’ onion plants. Plants were evaluated for shoot, bulb, and root fresh weights, bulb diameter, leaf and root lengths, number of leaves, and nematode final population and reproduction factor (RF). Additionally, the feeding behavior was determined in the roots of infected plants. The studied population was identified as <i>Helicotylenchus pseudorobustus</i>, constituting the first report of this species in onion crops in Brazil and worldwide. This nematode significantly impacted plant development, reducing bulb fresh weight, shoot fresh weight, number of leaves, leaf length and total chlorophyll content by 22.2 to 61.5%. The cultivar Bola Precoce was susceptible, yielding in RF nematode value equal to 4.34. Furthermore, <i>H. pseudorobustus</i> behaved as endoparasitic and semi-endoparasitic in the infected onion roots.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":8598,"journal":{"name":"Australasian Plant Pathology","volume":"55 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2026-02-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s13313-026-01107-z.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147342679","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Bilkis Nahar, Bodrun Nessa Shompa, Sakib Srower Santo, Al Mahmud Shoaib, M. Salahuddin M. Chowdhury, Jamilur Rahman, F. M. Aminuzzaman, Md. Nazrul Islam, Md. Iyasir Arafat, Sayed Mohammad Mohsin
{"title":"First report of Alternaria arborescens causing leaf spot on quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) in Bangladesh","authors":"Bilkis Nahar, Bodrun Nessa Shompa, Sakib Srower Santo, Al Mahmud Shoaib, M. Salahuddin M. Chowdhury, Jamilur Rahman, F. M. Aminuzzaman, Md. Nazrul Islam, Md. Iyasir Arafat, Sayed Mohammad Mohsin","doi":"10.1007/s13313-026-01127-9","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s13313-026-01127-9","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":8598,"journal":{"name":"Australasian Plant Pathology","volume":"55 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2026-02-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147342790","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Meloidogyne enterolobii intercepted from lilyturf (Liriope spp.) seedlings from Costa Rica during Japanese import plant quarantine inspection","authors":"Shigeyuki Sekimoto, Tetsuya Inaba","doi":"10.1007/s13313-026-01093-2","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s13313-026-01093-2","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>In October 2019, root-knot nematodes (RKNs) were intercepted from the galled roots of lilyturf (<i>Liriope</i> spp.) seedlings from Costa Rica during an import plant quarantine inspection at Chubu Centrair International Airport, Japan. The intercepted RKN population was identified by morphological and molecular analyses as the guava root-knot nematode, <i>Meloidogyne enterolobii</i> Yang and Eisenback. The morphology and morphometrics of the intercepted RKN population were consistent with those of original and subsequent descriptions of <i>M. enterolobii</i>. The species identification was confirmed by sequence and phylogenetic analyses of the D2-D3 of 28S rRNA, mtDNA intergenic COII-16S rRNA, and the COI gene. We also confirmed the species identification via PCR using <i>M. enterolobii</i> species-specific primers. Although <i>L. muscari</i> cv. Evergreen Giant has been reported as a good host for <i>M. enterolobii</i> using an artificial inoculation test, to date no studies have reported natural infection of lilyturf by <i>M. enterolobii</i>. Therefore, this is the first report of natural infection of lilyturf by <i>M. enterolobii</i>.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":8598,"journal":{"name":"Australasian Plant Pathology","volume":"55 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2026-02-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147341452","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nam Q. Pham, Michael J. Wingfield, Tuan A. Duong, Brenda D. Wingfield
{"title":"Draft Genome Sequence of Elsinoe masingae: The Causal Agent of Eucalyptus Scab in South Africa","authors":"Nam Q. Pham, Michael J. Wingfield, Tuan A. Duong, Brenda D. Wingfield","doi":"10.1007/s13313-026-01082-5","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s13313-026-01082-5","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p><i>Elsinoe masingae</i> is a recently described fungal pathogen causing Eucalyptus scab and shoot malformation in South African plantations. Here we present the draft genome sequence of the ex-holotype isolate (CMW 58888 = CMW-IA 1800). Illumina paired-end sequencing generated approximately 24.6 million reads, yielding a 24.8 Mb assembly comprising 176 scaffolds with an N50 of 0.47 Mb and a GC content of 51.04%. BUSCO analysis using the <i>dothideomycetes_odb10</i> dataset indicated 93.70% completeness, and funannotate predicted 8 883 protein-coding genes. Phylogenetic inference based on ITS, LSU, <i>TEF1</i> and <i>RPB2</i> sequences confirmed the identity of the sequenced isolate as <i>E. masingae</i>. The availability of this genome provides an essential resource for developing molecular tools to study the population diversity, epidemiology, and evolutionary history of <i>E. masingae</i>, and enables comparative analyses of pathogenicity and host adaptation among <i>Elsinoe</i> species affecting <i>Eucalyptus</i> and other crops.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":8598,"journal":{"name":"Australasian Plant Pathology","volume":"55 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2026-02-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s13313-026-01082-5.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147341453","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Hsu-Yao Chao, Mianmian Wang, Kathleen S. Crew, Andrew D. W. Geering
{"title":"Genome sequence of Ceratobium mosaic virus (species Potyvirus ceratobii)","authors":"Hsu-Yao Chao, Mianmian Wang, Kathleen S. Crew, Andrew D. W. Geering","doi":"10.1007/s13313-026-01124-y","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s13313-026-01124-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Ceratobium mosaic virus (CerMV; species <i>Potyvirus ceratobii</i>) has only been recorded from the east coast of Australia, where it infects native <i>Dendrobium</i> and allied orchid genera. Very little is known about this virus, although based on its classification as a potyvirus, it likely is transmitted in a non-persistent manner by aphids. When first discovered, only a RT-PCR amplicon covering the NIb and coat protein coding regions and 3’ untranslated region of the viral genome was sequenced, which at the time was sufficient for official recognition of this virus as a novel species. However, the standard of evidence now required for taxonomic proposals is a complete or near complete genome sequence. In this report, we present the complete genome sequence of an isolate of CerMV from New South Wales, allowing a more comprehensive analysis of its classification and phylogeny.</p>","PeriodicalId":8598,"journal":{"name":"Australasian Plant Pathology","volume":"55 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2026-02-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s13313-026-01124-y.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147341086","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}