Detection of Diplodia pinea in asymptomatic pine shoots and its relation to the Normalized Insolation index

Abstract

Diplodia pinea (syn. Sphaeropsis sapinea), a common pathogenic fungus, causes considerable damage in Italy, particularly to pine stands in which trees are subjected to environmental stress. The occurrence of D. pinea in symptomless Pinus nigra shoots was investigated and related to the amount of radiation received by the trees growing on a site in a year, expressed as the Normalized Insolation index (NIi). Twenty-seven pines were selected from nine locations in Trentino (northern Italy). For each pine the incidence of the fungus in apparently healthy shoots was determined by both culturing on an agar medium and application of real-time PCR. The incidence of D. pinea determined by culturing samples taken from asymptomatic trees was 59% (16 of 27 trees), compared with 85% found using real-time PCR (23 of 27 trees). Detection of the pathogen in healthy pine tissue was positively correlated (p < 0.05) with the NIi values, using both detection methods.

Latent infection of Biscogniauxia nummularia in Fagus sylvatica: a possible bioindicator of beech health conditions

“…Straatsma et al (2001) observed a correlation between the time of fruitbody appearance and temperature in a Swiss forest plot. In the Diplodia-Austrian pine pathosystem variations in the quantities of D. sapinea DNA in healthy pine shoots was positively correlated with the yearly amount of solar radiation received by trees (Maresi et al 2007).…”

“…The sensitivity of this technique has significantly improved in the last few years. Indeed, qPCR is currently a reliable method to detect even small amounts of latent pathogens in the trees, before visible symptoms occur in the host (Luchi et al 2005, Maresi et al 2007.…”

Distribution of hypovirulent strains ofCryphonectria parasiticain Tuscany (Italy) as influenced by climatic-environmental factors

“…Questa ipotesi è confortata dal fatto che anche per altri funghi (Diplodia pinea) si è osservata una relazio ne fra parametri stazionali e quantità di micelio fun gino nei tessuti dell'ospite (Maresi et al 2007) al va riare dell'assolazione media annua calcolata secondo Bartorelli (1967).…”

High-Resolution Melting Analysis: a new molecular approach for the early detection of Diplodia pinea in Austrian pine

“…For D. pinea, real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) has been used for this purpose (Maresi et al 2007). Recently, HRMA has also been very successful in clinical studies (Erali et al 2008;Mancini et al 2010).…”

“…. In southern European forests it has a role in the decline of Austrian pine, which occurs mostly under conditions of adverse climatic or environmental factors (Maresi et al 2002(Maresi et al , 2007.…”