No abstract

Genetic variation in Gremmeniella abietina isolated from Pinus sylvestris, Pinus contorta, and Picea abies in southern and northern Fennoscandia was studied with arbitrary primed polymerase chain reaction. Fennoscandian G. abietina isolates were clearly separated into two ecotypically distinct groups based on their amplified banding patterns. Analysis of variance based on amplified fragments, AMOVA, and principal component analysis confirmed the separation of the isolates into the two groups. One group contained isolates associated with a disease syndrome affecting young trees covered by deep snow during winter in northern Fennoscandia. The second group of isolates was found on trees between 15 and 40 years old, scattered throughout the crowns. It occurs throughout Fennoscandia but is most frequent in the southern parts. No size polymorphism was found in fragments resulting after restriction enzyme digestion of internal transcribed spacer and intergenic spacer regions of nuclear ribosomal DNA. An estimate of gene flow between populations calculated based on amplified band frequencies, FST, indicated that there was restricted genetic exchange between populations of the two groups of isolates. Key words: Gremmeniella abietina, arbitrary primed polymerase chain reaction, genetic variation, ecotypes, ribosomal DNA.

Aspects of the life cycle of Gremmeniella abietina (Lagerb.) Morelet were studied from 1988 to 1990 in stands oi Pinus sylvestris L., 16-32 years old, in southern Sweden, initiated in 1988 with a widespread outbreak of the disease. Pycnidia started to release conidia in late spring and apothecia began to release ascospores in summer. Latent infections could still be detected one year after their establishment by cultivation of healthy looking shoots on agar petri dishes. G. abietina appeared to have a mainly biennal life cycle, as most spores were releaseci two years after infection of the shoot.

Gremmeniella abietina isolates from Pinus contorta in northern Sweden produced, in vitro, shorter conidia with fewer septa compared with isolates from Pinus sylvestris in the southern part of the country. After tnycelial inoculation of shoots with G. abietina isoLites from both host species, the resulting necroses were longer in P. sylvestris than in P. contorta. Keeping seedlings in artificial mild winter clitnate or detaching shoots frotn the seedling before inoculation caused longer necroses. No host specificity in colonization was found. Isolates from P. sylvestris caused longer necroses than did isolates from P. contorta, and both types of isolates caused longer necroses in P. sylvestris than in P. contorta. The differences found between the two G. abietina populations probably reflect regional variation in the fungus.

No abstract