First Report of Rhizopus arrhizusi causing rot of Dictyophora rubrovolvata in China

Dictyophora rubrovolvata, as an edible fungus with high medicinal value, is widely cultivated in several provinces in China (Hang et al. 2012). However, between December 2023 and March 2024, a rot disease occurred in the main production area in Fengxian District, Shanghai, China (N30°93', E121°49'). The disease incidence was 25% in the affected 1.33-ha growing area. High temperatures (>25℃) and poor ventilation provide favorable conditions for the spread of this disease. The disease mainly occurs at the stage of fruiting bodies formation of D. rubrovolvata. When the epidermis is damaged and broken, it becomes infested with mold, which then produces a layer of moldy rot with pus. The infected D. rubrovolvata tissues at the edge of the lesions were isolated, surface sterilized and cultured on potato dextrose agar (PDA) at 30 ℃ under dark conditions. Pure cultures were obtained by single-spore isolation. After 3 days, isolates were transferred to Czapek Yeast agar (CYA) (Samson et al, 2014). On CYA, the fungal colony consisted of white flocculent hyphae. Scanning electron microscopy analysis showed that the mycelium was white, and the internodes of the stolons formed characteristic pseudoroots, from which upwardly clustered erect, unbranched sporocarp peduncles expanded apically to form rounded sporocarp sacs, within which sporocarp spores were produced. (Hariprasath P, 2019). To confirm the identity of the pathogen, the genomic fragments for the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and intergenic spacer (IGS) gene of the isolate were amplified by PCR (White et al. 1990; Liu XY. 2008). The resulting sequence was deposited in GenBank with accession PP951880 and PQ001670, respectively. PCR results and morphological observations indicated the isolated strain was a pure culture and the strain was designated as DIC01. Comparative results showed that the sequences with accession numbers MT603964.1 and DQ990323.1 showed high homology of 99.15% and 98.96% to the ITS and IGS sequences of Rhizopus arrhizusi DIC01, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis with ITS and IGS genes of the isolated strain and 7 Rhizopus spp. strains were performed using MEGAX with Neighbor-Joining (NJ) method. Based on the results of growth habits, morphological observations, and phylogenetic analysis, the pathogen was identified as R. arrhizusi. A spore suspension of the R. arrhizusi DIC01 (1 x107 conidia/mL) was inoculated back to healthy D. rubrovolvata. Five healthy fruit bodies of D. rubrovolvata were injected, and another five healthy morels were treated with potato dextrose broth (PDB) as controls. D. rubrovolvata was incubated at 25°C and 90% relative humidity without ventilation for 5 days. The pathogen successfully infected the D. rubrovolvata, which developed white moldy lesions similar to those of natural diseases. The controls remained healthy without any symptoms. The pathogen was reisolated from the affected lesions and identified as R. arrhizusi DIC01 based on its morphological characteristics and phylogenetic marker genes. R. arrhizusi has been reported to cause endothelial cell damage and mycelial invasion into blood vessels, leading to thrombosis and tissue necrosis. (Hariprasath P, 2019). To our knowledge, this is the first report of R. arrhizusi causing rot disease of D. rubrovolvata. This study confirmed that R. arrhizusi is the pathogenic fungus responsible for rotting disease in D. rubrovolvata farms in Fengxian, Shanghai.