Identification of Colletotrichum spp. isolated from strawberry in Zhejiang Province and Shanghai City, China
Liu XIE, Jing-ze ZHANG, Yao WAN, Dong-wei HU
Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Crop Pathogens and Insects, Ministry of Agriculture, Institute of Biotechnology, College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310029, China
jzzhang@zju.edu.cn
Abstract: Strawberry anthracnose, caused by Colletotrichum spp., is a major disease of cultivated strawberry. This study identifies 31 isolates of Colletotrichum spp. which cause strawberry anthracnose in Zhejiang Province and Shanghai City, China. Eleven isolates were identified as C. acutatum, 10 as C. gloeosporioides and 10 as C. fragariae based on morphological characteristics, phylogenetic and sequence analyses. Species-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and enzyme digestion further confirmed the identification of the Colletotrichum spp., demonstrating that these three species are currently the causal agents of strawberry anthracnose in the studied regions. Based on analysis of rDNA internal transcribed spacers (ITS) sequences, sequences of all C. acutatum were identical, and little genetic variability was observed between C. fragariae and C. gloeosporioides. However, the conservative nature of the MvnI specific site from isolates of C. gloeosporioides was confirmed, and this site could be used to differentiate C. gloeosporioides from C. fragariae.
Key words: Fragaria×ananassa, Taxonomic identification, Colletotrichum acutatum, C. gloeosporioides, C. fragariae