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Kowalski T, Bilański P. Recognition of Davidsoniella virescens on Fagus sylvatica Wood in Poland and Assessment of Its Pathogenicity. J Fungi (Basel) 2024; 10:465. [PMID: 39057350 PMCID: PMC11278147 DOI: 10.3390/jof10070465] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2024] [Revised: 06/25/2024] [Accepted: 06/27/2024] [Indexed: 07/28/2024] Open
Abstract
Davidsoniella virescens is so far only known in North America. However, recently in southern Poland, blackish growth consisting of fungal mycelia and sporulation structures was found on the wood of Fagus sylvatica. As a result of isolation, 17 cultures of this fungus were obtained. All cultures produced an intense sweet odor. This fungus, both in situ and in vitro, abundantly produced perithecia with long necks and asexual stage. Particularly characteristic was the production of variable endoconidia in two types of phialophores differing mainly in the width of the collarette. The nucleotide sequences for five gene fragments of representative cultures were used in phylogenetic analyses: 18S; the internal transcribed spacer regions ITS1 and ITS2, including the 5.8S gene (ITS); 28S region of the ribosomal RNA (rRNA), β-tubulin 2 (TUB2) and translation elongation factor 1-α (TEF1). Based on morphological and phylogenetic analyses, the fungus on European beech in Poland was identified as Davidsoniella virescens. The optimal temperature for radial colony growth was 20 °C. However, the differences between colony diameter at 25 °C compared to that at the optimal temperature were not statistically significant. Six D. virescens isolates were used for pathogenicity assay. They were inoculated into wounds on stems of two-year-old seedlings of Fagus sylvatica and Acer saccharum (36 seedlings of each tree species). Final evaluation was performed 4 months after inoculation. No external symptoms were observed in any A. saccharum seedling, neither in the crown nor on the stem. However, 13.9% of F. sylvatica seedlings showed wilting symptoms throughout the entire crown within 3-6 weeks after inoculation. Moreover, after 4 months on the stems of 30.6% beech seedlings, necrotic lesions with a length of 1.3 to 7.2 cm were formed, without any symptoms of wilting. The most noticeable internal symptom was the discoloration of the wood, which was observed in all inoculated seedlings of both tree species. All D. virescens isolates caused greater wood discoloration in F. sylvatica than in A. saccharum. Most of the differences found in the extent of discoloration between host plants were statistically significant. The discoloration caused by all D. virescens isolates in F. sylvatica was significantly greater than in the control. However, none of the isolates tested on A. saccharum caused significantly greater wood discoloration compared to the control. Pathogenicity tests showed that the D. virescens isolates identified in southern Poland may pose a greater threat to native European beech than to foreign sugar maple.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Piotr Bilański
- Department of Forest Ecosystems Protection, University of Agriculture in Krakow, Al. 29 Listopada 46, 31-425 Krakow, Poland;
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Tsers I, Marenina E, Meshcherov A, Petrova O, Gogoleva O, Tkachenko A, Gogoleva N, Gogolev Y, Potapenko E, Muraeva O, Ponomareva M, Korzun V, Gorshkov V. First genome-scale insights into the virulence of the snow mold causal fungus Microdochium nivale. IMA Fungus 2023; 14:2. [PMID: 36627722 PMCID: PMC9830731 DOI: 10.1186/s43008-022-00107-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2022] [Accepted: 12/16/2022] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Pink snow mold, caused by a phytopathogenic and psychrotolerant fungus, Microdochium nivale, is a severe disease of winter cereals and grasses that predominantly occurs under snow cover or shortly after its melt. Snow mold has significantly progressed during the past decade, often reaching epiphytotic levels in northern countries and resulting in dramatic yield losses. In addition, M. nivale gradually adapts to a warmer climate, spreading to less snowy territories and causing different types of plant diseases throughout the growing period. Despite its great economic importance, M. nivale is poorly investigated; its genome has not been sequenced and its crucial virulence determinants have not been identified or even predicted. In our study, we applied a hybrid assembly based on Oxford Nanopore and Illumina reads to obtain the first genome sequence of M. nivale. 11,973 genes (including 11,789 protein-encoding genes) have been revealed in the genome assembly. To better understand the genetic potential of M. nivale and to obtain a convenient reference for transcriptomic studies on this species, the identified genes were annotated and split into hierarchical three-level functional categories. A file with functionally classified M. nivale genes is presented in our study for general use. M. nivale gene products that best meet the criteria for virulence factors have been identified. The genetic potential to synthesize human-dangerous mycotoxins (fumonisin, ochratoxin B, aflatoxin, and gliotoxin) has been revealed for M. nivale. The transcriptome analysis combined with the assays for extracellular enzymatic activities (conventional virulence factors of many phytopathogens) was carried out to assess the effect of host plant (rye) metabolites on the M. nivale phenotype. In addition to disclosing plant-metabolite-upregulated M. nivale functional gene groups (including those related to host plant protein destruction and amino acid metabolism, xenobiotic detoxication (including phytoalexins benzoxazinoids), cellulose destruction (cellulose monooxygenases), iron transport, etc.), the performed analysis pointed to a crucial role of host plant lipid destruction and fungal lipid metabolism modulation in plant-M. nivale interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ivan Tsers
- grid.465285.80000 0004 0637 9007Federal Research Center, Kazan Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Kazan, Russia 420111
| | - Ekaterina Marenina
- grid.465285.80000 0004 0637 9007Federal Research Center, Kazan Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Kazan, Russia 420111
| | - Azat Meshcherov
- grid.465285.80000 0004 0637 9007Federal Research Center, Kazan Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Kazan, Russia 420111
| | - Olga Petrova
- grid.465285.80000 0004 0637 9007Federal Research Center, Kazan Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Kazan, Russia 420111
| | - Olga Gogoleva
- grid.465285.80000 0004 0637 9007Federal Research Center, Kazan Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Kazan, Russia 420111
| | - Alexander Tkachenko
- grid.35915.3b0000 0001 0413 4629Laboratory of Computer Technologies, ITMO University, Saint Petersburg, Russia 197101
| | - Natalia Gogoleva
- grid.465285.80000 0004 0637 9007Federal Research Center, Kazan Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Kazan, Russia 420111
| | - Yuri Gogolev
- grid.465285.80000 0004 0637 9007Federal Research Center, Kazan Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Kazan, Russia 420111
| | - Evgenii Potapenko
- grid.18098.380000 0004 1937 0562Institute of Evolution, University of Haifa, 3498838 Haifa, Israel ,grid.18098.380000 0004 1937 0562Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology, University of Haifa, 3498838 Haifa, Israel
| | - Olga Muraeva
- grid.512700.1Bioinformatics Institute, Saint Petersburg, Russia 197342
| | - Mira Ponomareva
- grid.465285.80000 0004 0637 9007Federal Research Center, Kazan Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Kazan, Russia 420111
| | - Viktor Korzun
- grid.465285.80000 0004 0637 9007Federal Research Center, Kazan Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Kazan, Russia 420111 ,grid.425691.dKWS SAAT SE & Co. KGaA, 37555 Einbeck, Germany
| | - Vladimir Gorshkov
- grid.465285.80000 0004 0637 9007Federal Research Center, Kazan Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Kazan, Russia 420111
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Transcriptome Analysis of Plenodomus tracheiphilus Infecting Rough Lemon (Citrus jambhiri Lush.) Indicates a Multifaceted Strategy during Host Pathogenesis. BIOLOGY 2022; 11:biology11050761. [PMID: 35625489 PMCID: PMC9138800 DOI: 10.3390/biology11050761] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2022] [Revised: 05/14/2022] [Accepted: 05/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Simple Summary The cultivation of the lemon is strongly impacted by mal secco, a disease that causes huge losses in yield every year. In this work, we have identified, retrieved, and classified genes that may play a crucial role in the onset and progression of the disease. Understanding the function of these genes will increase knowledge of the processes involving the mode of action of necrotrophic fungi during pathogenesis. Our results may be relevant to help identify sustainable field treatments to cope with disease diffusion and to provide direction into possible biotechnological approaches to generate resistant lemon plants. Abstract The causal agent of mal secco disease is the fungus Plenodomus tracheiphilus, mainly affecting lemon tree survival in the Mediterranean area. Using a fully compatible host-pathogen interaction, the aim of our work was to retrieve the fungus transcriptome by an RNA seq approach during infection of rough lemon (Citrus jambhiri Lush.) to identify crucial transcripts for pathogenesis establishment and progression. A total of 2438 clusters belonging to P. tracheiphilus were retrieved and classified into the GO and KEGG categories. Transcripts were categorized mainly within the “membrane”, “catalytic activity”, and “primary metabolic process” GO terms. Moreover, most of the transcripts are included in the “ribosome”, “carbon metabolism”, and “oxidative phosphorylation” KEGG categories. By focusing our attention on transcripts with FPKM values higher than the median, we were able to identify four main transcript groups functioning in (a) fungus cell wall remodeling and protection, (b) destroying plant defensive secondary metabolites, (c) optimizing fungus development and pathogenesis, and (d) toxin biosynthesis, thus indicating that a multifaceted strategy to subdue the host was executed.
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