A New Colletotrichum Species Associated with Brown Blight Disease on Camellia sinensis

Abstract

Brown blight, as the most damaging and common foliar disease of tea plant [Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze] in China, has been recently reported to be caused by different species of the genus Colletotrichum. During the years 2016–2017, tea plants in commercial tea cultivation areas of Chongqing city that reported significant incidences of brown blight disease were investigated and then analyzed using both morphological characteristics and multi-locus phylogenetic analysis. The results showed that at least five species of Colletotrichum were identified, including four well known species (C. gloeosporioides, C. camelliae, C. fioriniae, C. karstii) and one novel species (C. chongqingense), indicating that there is remarkable species diversity in Colletotrichum present as pathogens. Results of pathogenicity analyses confirmed that C. chongqingense was the causal agent of brown blight and different isolates were differ in virulence. C. chongqingense, as a novel pathogen, has never been reported as being associated with brown blight disease in tea plants or anthracnose in other host plants anywhere in the world. Knowledge of the Colletotrichum populations will facilitate further studies addressing the relationships between Colletotrichum spp. and their host plant Ca. sinensis.

Metabolomics Analysis Reveals the Effect of Two Alpine Foliar Diseases on the Non-Volatile and Volatile Metabolites of Tea

“…However, few studies have centered on the metabolite changes in tea plants due to pathogen infection. Colletotrichum , which causes brown blight disease, is the most common pathogen occurring in tea plants, severely affecting the growth of the tea plant [ 24 , 25 ]. Wang et al [ 10 ] found that the levels of (−)-epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), (+)-catechin (C) and caffeine were induced in C. fructicola -resistant leaf tissues.…”

Advances in understanding the mechanism of resistance to anthracnose and induced defence response in tea plants

“…The purified PCR products are sequenced for phylogenetic tree construction and analysis of multilocus gene sequences (Wang, Hao, et al, 2016). For morphological confirmation, colony, conidia, conidiophores, and appressoria characteristics are recorded and determined using methods described by Cai et al (2009) (Chen et al, 2017;Guo et al, 2014;Liu et al, 2015;Shi et al, 2018;Wan et al, 2021;Zhang et al, 2021). Of these species, C. gloeosporioides complex, C. camelliae, and C. fructicola were the dominant species causing anthracnose in C. sinensis (Zhang et al, 2021).…”

“…Using multigene molecular phylogenetic analysis coupled with morphological characterization, a total of 10 well‐characterized species ( C. acutatum , C. alienum , C. boninense , C. camelliae , C. cliviae , C. fioriniae , C. fructicola , C. gloeosporioides , C. karstii , C. siamense ), three new record species ( C. aenigma , C. endophytica , C. truncatum ), four novel species ( C. chongqingense , C. henanense , C. jiangxiense, C. wuxiense ), and one unidentified strain ( Colletotrichum sp.) have been found to cause tea plant anthracnose in China (Chen et al, 2017; Guo et al, 2014; Liu et al, 2015; Shi et al, 2018; Wan et al, 2021; Zhang et al, 2021). Of these species, C. gloeosporioides complex, C. camelliae , and C. fructicola were the dominant species causing anthracnose in C. sinensis (Zhang et al, 2021).…”

Identification and characterization of Cladosporium species associated with tea plants (Camellia sinensis) in China

“…Many microorganisms, such as pathogenic and endophytic fungi, bacteria and viruses, live in tea plants (Gao et al, 2016). Diseases caused by pathogenic fungi, such as tea leaf blight caused by Colletotrichum and tea blister blight caused by Exobasidium vexans , are commonly studied in tea plants (Mohktar & Nagao, 2019; Wan et al, 2021). Interestingly, several recent results demonstrated that plant endophytes can inhibit the growth of pathogenic fungi by secreting a large number of metabolites, thereby helping plants by inducing disease resistance (Yang et al, 2019).…”

“…Many microorganisms, such as pathogenic and endophytic fungi, bacteria and viruses, live in tea plants (Gao et al, 2016). Diseases caused by pathogenic fungi, such as tea leaf blight caused by Colletotrichum and tea blister blight caused by Exobasidium vexans, are commonly studied in tea plants (Mohktar & Nagao, 2019;Wan et al, 2021). Interestingly,…”