First Report of Botryosphaeria dothidea as the Causal Agent of a New Fruit Rot Disease of Pepper in China

HomePlant DiseaseVol. 107, No. 3First Report of Botryosphaeria dothidea as the Causal Agent of a New Fruit Rot Disease of Pepper in China PreviousNext DISEASE NOTE OPENOpen Access licenseFirst Report of Botryosphaeria dothidea as the Causal Agent of a New Fruit Rot Disease of Pepper in ChinaLu Rui, JiaYi Su, Zhixing Nie, Hong Chen, Jiamao Xu, and Guangheng WuLu Rui†Corresponding authors: L. Rui; E-mail Address: [email protected], and G. Wu; E-mail Address: [email protected]https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5569-0796Chongqing Engineering Laboratory of Green Planting and Deep Processing of Famous-Region Drug in the Three Gorges Reservoir Region, College of Biology and Food Engineering, Chongqing Three Gorges University, Chongqing 404120, P.R. ChinaSearch for more papers by this author, JiaYi SuChongqing Engineering Laboratory of Green Planting and Deep Processing of Famous-Region Drug in the Three Gorges Reservoir Region, College of Biology and Food Engineering, Chongqing Three Gorges University, Chongqing 404120, P.R. ChinaSearch for more papers by this author, Zhixing NieHorticultural Research Institute, Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai 201403, P.R. ChinaSearch for more papers by this author, Hong ChenChongqing Engineering Laboratory of Green Planting and Deep Processing of Famous-Region Drug in the Three Gorges Reservoir Region, College of Biology and Food Engineering, Chongqing Three Gorges University, Chongqing 404120, P.R. ChinaSearch for more papers by this author, Jiamao XuChongqing Engineering Laboratory of Green Planting and Deep Processing of Famous-Region Drug in the Three Gorges Reservoir Region, College of Biology and Food Engineering, Chongqing Three Gorges University, Chongqing 404120, P.R. ChinaSearch for more papers by this author, and Guangheng Wu†Corresponding authors: L. Rui; E-mail Address: [email protected], and G. Wu; E-mail Address: [email protected]College of Tea and Food Science, Wuyi University, Wuyishan 354300, P.R. ChinaSearch for more papers by this authorAffiliationsAuthors and Affiliations Lu Rui1 † JiaYi Su1 Zhixing Nie2 Hong Chen1 Jiamao Xu1 Guangheng Wu3 † 1Chongqing Engineering Laboratory of Green Planting and Deep Processing of Famous-Region Drug in the Three Gorges Reservoir Region, College of Biology and Food Engineering, Chongqing Three Gorges University, Chongqing 404120, P.R. China 2Horticultural Research Institute, Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai 201403, P.R. China 3College of Tea and Food Science, Wuyi University, Wuyishan 354300, P.R. China Published Online:7 Mar 2023https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-04-22-0985-PDNAboutSectionsView articlePDFSupplemental ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailWechat View articlePepper is a globally important and widely cultivated commercial vegetable (Yin et al. 2021). In June 2021, approximately 25 to 33.3% of pepper plants had rot disease symptoms in Zhuanghang Comprehensive Experimental Base (30.894829°N and 121.391374°E), Fengxian district, Shanghai city, China. Water-soaked spots appeared on fruits that increased in size and leading to smelly fruit decay. To isolate the pathogen, three pepper samples with severe symptoms were collected. The samples were surface disinfected with 70% ethanol for 30 s, and 10% chlorine bleach for 10 min and rinsed with sterile water three times, and the rot tissues were cut and dried on sterile filter paper. The dried paper was later placed on potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium and incubated at 28°C (Tang et al. 2021). After 2 to 3 days, four types of colonies with different colony appearances were observed, among which only one can induce the fruit rot phenotype (data not shown). Four isolates were cultured for molecular identification in each type. ITS1/ITS4, T1/βt-2b, and EF1-526F/EF1-1567R primers were used to amplify the internal transcribed spacer region (ITS) and the beta-tubulin (TUB2) and the translation elongation factor I alpha (EF1-α) genes, respectively (Chen et al. 2018) and corresponding sequences from the isolates were analyzed with BLAST. Sequences of the isolate that can induce pepper decay were submitted to GenBank under the accession numbers OM663701 (ITS), OM720127 (TUB2), and OM720128 (EF1-α). The results showed that the pathogen had 99% sequence homology to most strains of Botryosphaeria dothidea and displayed the highest sequence similarity to strain LBSX-1 (ITS: KF551232), strain JGT01 (TUB2: MW202404) and isolate CZA (EF1-α: MN025271). Based on molecular characterization, the isolate was identified as B. dothidea isolate SH01. A phylogenetic tree was constructed using maximum parsimony methods by MEGA7, and showed that SH01 was closely related to isolate CMW9075. To confirm the pathogenicity, five healthy pepper fruits were surface sterilized, 500 μl of conidial suspension (1 × 103 conidia/ml) was injected into pepper (sterilized distilled water as control). Six days postinoculation (dpi), fruit rot symptoms appeared, and the pepper decayed at 12 dpi. Four days postinoculation with mycelium plugs (from a 4-day-old culture on PDA, PDA plugs as control), hyphae were observed in the inoculation site and B. dothidea was reisolated from the symptomatic areas, fulfilling Koch’s postulates (Back et al. 2021; Chen et al. 2021). The pepper rotted severely at 7 dpi. The colonies of SH01 were pale to white and gradually turned gray in 4 to 6 days. Conidia of the pathogen were unicellular, aseptate, hyaline, fusiform to fusoid, and 19.7 to 23.5 × 3.8 to 5.2 μm (average = 21.9 × 4.8 μm, n = 50). Hyphae were transparent, branched, and composed of multiple cells. The characteristic was consistent with descriptions of B. dothidea (Vasić et al. 2013). B. dothidea belongs to Botryosphaeriaceae, causing widespread diseases in many plant species, commonly associated with cankers and dieback of woody plants and economic crops, such as plumcot trees (Back et al. 2021), eucalyptus (Yu et al. 2009), and soybeans (Chen et al. 2021) in China and Korea. Our findings reported for the first time that B. dothidea (SH01) can induce pepper rot disease. Future work on its pathogenesis may provide strategies for disease control against this fungus.The author(s) declare no conflict of interest.References:Back, C. G., et al. 2021. Plant Dis. 106:334. https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-07-21-1399-PDN Link, ISI, Google ScholarChen, T., et al. 2021. Plant Dis. 105:1216. https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-11-20-2398-PDN Link, ISI, Google ScholarChen, Y., et al. 2018. Plant Dis. 102:98. https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-05-17-0642-RE Link, ISI, Google ScholarTang, Y., et al. 2021. Plant Dis. 106:765. https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-07-21-1403-PDN Link, ISI, Google ScholarVasić, M., et al. 2013. Plant Dis. 97:1659. https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-05-13-0493-PDN Link, ISI, Google ScholarYin, J., et al. 2021. BMC Genomics 22:868. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-021-08183-z Crossref, ISI, Google ScholarYu, L., et al. 2009. Plant Dis. 93:764. https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-93-7-0764C Link, ISI, Google ScholarFunding: This work was supported by the Chongqing Natural Science Foundation Project (cstc2021jcyj-msxmX0322), Scientific research project of Chongqing Municipal Education Commission (KJQN202101246), Open Fund of Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Eco-Industrial Green Technology (WYKF2019-2), and Chongqing University Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Project (202110643013 and 202210643014).The author(s) declare no conflict of interest.DetailsFiguresLiterature CitedRelated Vol. 107, No. 3 March 2023SubscribeISSN:0191-2917e-ISSN:1943-7692 Download Metrics Article History Issue Date: 3 Apr 2023 Published: 7 Mar 2023 First Look: 30 Aug 2022 Accepted: 26 Aug 2022 Page: 949 Information© 2023 The American Phytopathological SocietyFundingChongqing Natural Science Foundation ProjectGrant/Award Number: cstc2021jcyj-msxmX0322Chongqing Municipal Education CommissionGrant/Award Number: KJQN202101246Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Eco-Industrial Green TechnologyGrant/Award Number: WYKF2019-2Chongqing University Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship ProjectGrant/Award Number: 202110643013Grant/Award Number: 202210643014KeywordsBotryosphaeria dothideafruit rot diseasepepperThe author(s) declare no conflict of interest.PDF download