The Potential Fungal Pathogens of Euonymus japonicus in Beijing, China

Abstract

Euonymus japonicus tolerates the dry and frigid climate of Beijing, China, and effectively filters out particles during the winter. However, fungal infestation frequently causes extreme illness and can even lead to shrub death. In this study, 104 diseased E. japonicus specimens were collected from seven districts in Beijing. Seventy-nine isolates were identified as 22 fungal species in seven genera. The species were Aplosporella hesperidica, A. javeedii, A. prunicola, Botryosphaeria dothidea, Colletotrichum aenigma, Co. euonymi, Co. euonymicola, Co. gloeosporioides, Cytospora ailanthicola, C. albodisca, C. diopuiensis, C. discotoma, C. elaeagni, C. euonymicola, C. euonymina, C. haidianensis, C. leucostoma, C. sophorae, C. zhaitangensis, Diaporthe eres, Dothiorella acericola, and Pestalotiopsis chaoyangensis. On the basis of morphological and phylogenetic analyses, Colletotrichum euonymi, Co. euonymicola, Cytospora zhaitangensis, and Pestalotiopsis chaoyangensis were introduced as novel species. Colletotrichum euonymi, Co. euonymicola, and Pestalotiopsis chaoyangensis were subsequently confirmed as pathogens of E. japonicus leaves by pathogenicity testing. This study provides an important assessment of the fungi associated with diseases of E. japonicus in Beijing, China.

Morphology and molecular analyses reveal three new species of Botryosphaeriales isolated from diseased plant branches in China

“…The fungi of Botryosphaeriales play various ecological roles, such as saprotrophs, endophytes, or plant pathogens ( Phillips et al 2005 , 2008, 2013 ; Luque et al 2016 ). Some fungi exhibit strong pathogenicity, leading to severe diseases in different parts of various plants, such as Botryosphaeria dothidea , which can cause apple ring rot of stems and fruits ( Zhang et al 2016b ), as well as poplar cankers ( Li et al 2019 ), and the dieback and leaf spot diseases of Euonymus japonicus ( Lin et al 2023 ). Sometimes their ecological roles change, such as Diplodia sapinea , which is both an endophytic and a plant pathogenic fungus ( Slippers et al 2013 ).…”

Identification of Cytospora Species Isolated from Branch Canker Diseases of Woody Plants in Tibet, China

“…The obtained sequences for ITS, act, rpb2, tef1 and tub2 from the present study and related sequence data from recent publications (Supplementary file) [9,24,25] were aligned using the MAFFT v.7 online web server (http://mafft.cbrc.jp/alignment/server/index.html, accessed on 1 November 2023) under the default settings. The maximum likelihood (ML) phylogenic analysis was conducted using RAxMLHPC2 on the XSEDE in the CIPRES Science Gateway platform [33].…”

“…Culture characteristics: Colonies on PDA are flat, spreading, with sparse to moderate aerial mycelium, initially white, becoming umber after 15 days, reaching a 90 mm diameter after 15 days and forming abundant conidiomata after 30 days at 25 Notes: Cytospora euonymina was initially described from diseased branches and twigs of Euonymus kiautschovicus collected from Shanxi Province [9], and was subsequently discovered on leaf spots of E. japonicus in Beijing City [25]. This fungal species has only been reported from the host genus Euonymus and in China.…”

“…Fan & C.M. Tian and five other Cytospora species are responsible for Chinese polar canker diseases [24]; eight species of Cytospora are associated with willow cankers in China [25]; and C. kuanchengensis C.M. Tian & N. Jiang and five other Cytospora species cause Castanea mollissima Blume branch canker in China [26].…”

Morphology and Phylogeny Reveal Three New Species of Cytospora Associated with Tree Cankers in China

“…in South Africa with the help of DNA sequence evidence [2], eight from willow (Salix spp.) trees in China [16], six from Castanea mollissima in China [17], six from Populus hosts in China [18] and six from apple trees in Iran [19]. The taxonomy of Cytospora is currently more dependent on combined evidence of DNA sequence data, morphological features and ecology than species morphology and host associations [1,20].…”