Colletotrichum acutatum var. fioriniae (teleomorph: Glomerella acutata var. fioriniae var. nov.) infection of a scale insect

Abstract

An epizootic has been reported in Fiorinia externa populations in New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and NewJersey. Infected insects have profuse sclerotial masses enclosing their bodies. The most commonly isolated microorganism from infected F. externa was Colletotrichum sp. A morphological and molecular characterization of this fungus indicated that it is closely related to phytopathogenic C. acutatum isolates. Isolates of Colletotrichum sp. from F. externa in areas of the epizootic were similar genetically and were named Colletotrichum acutatum var. fioriniae var. nov, based on our findings. In vitro and in planta mating observed between isolates of C. acutatum var. fioriniae could serve as a possible source of genetic variation and might give rise to new biotypes with a propensity to infect insects. Only one other strain, C. gloeosporioides f. sp. ortheziidae, has been reported to show entomopathogenic activity.

Molecular phylogeny, diversity, symbiosis and discover of bioactive compounds of endophytic fungi associated with the medicinal Amazonian plant Carapa guianensis Aublet ( Meliaceae )

“…The most frequent endophytic isolates were the members of Colletotrichum. Several species of the genus Colletotrichum are known to be endophytes that inhabit several plant hosts (Marcelino et al, 2008;Rosa et al, 2010). Diaporthe (the teleomorph stage of Phomopsis) was the most common genus found associated with C. guianensis.…”

Endophytic fungi reduce leaf-cutting ant damage to seedlings

“…Endophytes produce a broad array of chemicals, some of which have antagonistic activity towards bacteria and other fungi [11]. Moreover, endophytes and the chemicals they produce may be toxic or distasteful to insects [12], pathogenic to insects [13] and/or could decrease insect fitness [6]. Continued research on the impacts of endophytes on leaf-cutting ant colonies and their cultivar may reveal similar effects.…”

One stop shop: backbones trees for important phytopathogenic genera: I (2014)

“…Cannon et al (2012) studied nearly all presently sequenced species in the genus using a six-gene analysis, and revealed at least nine clades; 119 species previously thought to be well circumscribed proved to be polyphyletic. Colletotrichum gloeosporioides Phoulivong et al 2010a, b;Weir et al 2012), C. acutatum (Marcelino et al 2008;Shivas and Tan 2009;Damm et al 2012a), C. boninense (Moriwaki et al 2003;Yang et al 2009;Damm et al 2012b), C. orbiculare ) form important species complexes within Colletotrichum and well-resolved among all the nine clades. Further studies in the C. gloeosporioides species complex led to identification of C. murrayae (Peng et al 2012), C. viniferum (Peng et al 2013), C. citricola (Huang et al 2013b), C. fructivorum (Doyle et al 2013), C. melanocaulon (Doyle et al 2013), C. temperatum (Doyle et al 2013), C. endophyticta ) and C. syzygicola .…”