Fungi associated with Cyclaneusma needle cast in Scots pine in the west of Poland

Abstract

Needles of Pinus sylvestris with and without symptoms of Cyclaneusma needle cast, from the west of Poland, were examined for abundance and diversity of fungi using Illumina sequencing. Fungal communities were dominated by Ascomycota (93.6%-98.6% of OTUs). Basidiomycota and non-culturable fungi were less frequent. Needles were colonized by 260 taxa. Ascomycota, Basidiomycota and Glomeromycota were represented by 149, 39 and 1 taxa. Abundance of fungi was least in 1.5-year-old needles attached to twigs and greatest in fallen 2-year-old needles. Fungal communities had least diversity in 1.5-year-old needles and most diversity in 0.5-year-old needles of current growth. It was found that (a) the most common fungi were the needle pathogens Cyclaneusma minus, Lophodermium spp. and Sydowia polyspora; (b) less common potential pathogens were Cenangium ferruginosum, Coniothyrium complex, Desmazierella acicola, Neocatenulostroma germanicum and species in the genera Neodidymelliopsis, Pestalotiopsis, Phoma, Pleurophoma and Pyrenochaeta; (c) common primary or secondary saprotrophs included species of Alternaria, Aureobasidium, Beauveria, Cladophialophora, Cladosporium, Epicoccum, Exophiala, Lecanicillium, Penicillium, Cryptococcus and Kwoniella; (d) Lophodermium was represented mostly by Lophodermium pinastri which occurred 4-72 times more frequently than Lophodermium seditiosum; (e) frequencies of C. minus and C. ferruginosum were lower in the 0.5-yearold symptomless needles, increased in the symptomatic and symptomless 1.5-yearold needles and decreased after needle fall; (f) frequency of L. seditiosum was highest in 0.5-year-old needles; (g) frequency of L. pinastri increased with needle age whereas S. polyspora increased after needle fall; (h) lower frequency of L. pinastrii was associated with higher frequency of S. polyspora. It was concluded that Cyclaneusa needle cast in Poland may be caused by C. minus accompanied by C. ferruginosum, L. seditiosum, L. pinastrii and S. polyspora. Participation of Coniothyrium spp., Epicoccum nigrum, Pestalotiopsis spp. and Phoma spp. in the disease progress cannot be excluded.

Sarocladium and Lecanicillium Associated with Maize Seeds and Their Potential to Form Selected Secondary Metabolites

“…They have also been described as beneficial plant endophytes [ 30 ]. Lecanicillium lecanii has been reported as a natural endophyte in Ammophila arenaria [ 31 ], Dactylis glomerata [ 32 ], Deschampsia flexuosa [ 33 ], Elymus farctus [ 31 ], Laretia acaulis [ 34 ], Pinus sylvestris [ 35 ], and Taxus baccata [ 36 ] and the species whose colonization can be induced (triggered) by artificial inoculation. The latter aspect is mainly related to crops such as Cucurbita maxima [ 37 ], Gossypium hirsutum [ 38 ], Solanum lycopersicum [ 37 ], Phaseolus vulgaris [ 37 , 39 ], Pistacia vera [ 10 ], Triticum aestivum [ 37 ], Vitis vinifera [ 40 ], and Zea mays [ 37 ].…”

Mycobiota Associated with the Vascular Wilt of Poplar

“…The last species is related to Hymenoscyphus fraxineus (T. Kowalski) Baral, Queloz and Hosoya, which causes a very destructive wilt disease of ash, ash dieback—with similar trunk symptoms to those observed in the hybrid poplar [ 41 , 42 ]. Infundichalara microchona occurred in conifers [ 43 , 44 ]; Knufia in black galls on the stems and branches of Populus tremuloides Michx. in Canada [ 45 ]; Leptodontidium on the roots of healthy Populus deltoides [ 46 ]; Lophiostoma corticola on the above-ground organs of dying oaks in Poland [ 47 ]; Megacapitula on fallen, decaying petioles of broad-leaves trees [ 48 ].…”

“…ssp. pallasiania and P. sylvestris L. in Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine [ 44 , 122 ], but has also occurred in the soil in Poland [ 125 ]. Sydowia polyspora is so far known from the foliage of Abies spp., Pinus spp.…”

Communities of Fungi in Black Cherry Stumps and Effects of Herbicide

“…Synthetic mock community and negative (no DNA added) controls were included to assess sequencing quality and removed the OTUs present in the control with only one-two sequences. The results were subjected to bioinformatic analysis [ 66 ]. Sequences were compared with already deposited sequences in the GenBank ® of the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) of the U.S. National Library of Medicine using BLASTn 2.8.0 (Nucleotide Basic Local Alignment Search Tool) [ 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 ], considering a similarity cutoff of 97%.…”