Cleary, Michelle
- Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Abstract
Fraxinus americana L. (white ash), a native North American tree commonly cultivated for its ornamental qualities, displayed symptoms of leaf spot disease in a sentinel garden located in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China, in 2022. This disease led to premature leaf shedding, adversely affecting the plant's growth and substantially diminishing its ornamental value. Potential fungal pathogens were isolated from the diseased leaves and the subsequent application of Koch's postulates confirmed the pathogenicity of the fungal isolates (BL-1, BL-2). Through a combination of multi-locus phylogenetic analysis, including ITS, ACT, ApMat, CAL, CHS-1, GAPDH, and TUB2, alongside morphological assessments, the fungus was conclusively identified as Colletotrichum jiangxiense. This represents the first record of C. jiangxiense affecting white ash, highlighting the important role of sentinel gardens in uncovering novel pathogen-plant host interactions.
Keywords
sentinel planting garden; Fraxinus americana L.; leaf spot; Colletotrichum jiangxiense; pathogenicity
Published in
Plants
2023, volume: 12, number: 23, article number: 4001
Publisher: MDPI
SLU Authors
UKÄ Subject classification
Microbiology
Forest Science
Publication identifier
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12234001
Permanent link to this page (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/127596