Bitter rot is a major disease of apple fruit in warm and humid regions. It is caused by various species in the Colletotrichum gloeosporioides and C. acutatum species complexes, of which C. fioriniae ...of the C. acutatum species complex is most common in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. While bitter rot management begins with good cultural practices, fungicides are generally used for consistent control. Fungicides should be applied before or during infection periods, but the timing of infection is unclear due to the hemibiotrophic lifestyle of the causal species. To determine when infection periods occur, we quantified C. fioriniae spore dispersal throughout three growing seasons and compared the temporal susceptibility of apples in two seasons of field trials. Spores were detected in rainwater from bud break to leaf drop, with the highest spore quantities in the summer and early fall correlating with optimal temperatures for C. fioriniae. Late-season-inoculated fruit had more bitter rot than early-season-inoculated fruit, but this was also positively correlated with periods of optimal temperatures and moisture for infection. In the context of previous experiments, these results suggest that infection periods are primarily determined by temperature and moisture rather than apple fruit phenology. Based on the relative numbers of spores, biotrophic and necrotrophic infections, only a tiny proportion of spores establish viable biotrophic infections, but a relatively high proportion of biotrophic infections switch to necrotrophy. We suggest bitter rot management should focus on preventing initial biotrophic infections by protecting apples during weather conditions that favor infection.
of the
species complex is an important hemibiotrophic pathogen of vegetables and fruits in temperate regions worldwide. In apple, it is one of the primary species responsible for bitter rot disease. ...Understanding the disease cycle is complicated because many broadleaf plants can be hosts of
By detecting and quantifying rain-splashed
species complex conidia in more than 500 samples from heavily bitter-rot-infected apple orchards and nearby forested woodlots over two summers, we show that conidial quantities were higher in the woodlots than in the orchards. Testing of more than 1,000 surface-disinfected leaves of apple and 24 different forest plant species showed that overall
was an abundant leaf endophyte, with high variation in leaf colonization area. Endophytic isolates from leaves were pathogenic on apples, and multilocus sequence analysis showed 100% identity between most isolates from leaves and diseased fruits. Apple leaves endophytically infected with
were present in a conventionally managed orchard and abundant in an untreated orchard. These lines of evidence, in the context of previously published research, lead us to hypothesize that the main ecological role of
is that of a leaf endophyte, which we present as a generalized
infection cycle that provides an updated framework for its integrated management in agricultural systems.
Despite more than 30 years of searching, the compact object in Supernova (SN) 1987A has not yet been detected. We present new limits on the compact object in SN 1987A using millimeter, near-infrared, ...optical, ultraviolet, and X-ray observations from ALMA, VLT, HST, and Chandra. The limits are approximately 0.1 mJy ( erg s−1 cm−2 Hz−1) at 213 GHz, 1 L ( erg s−1 cm−2 Hz−1) in the optical if our line of sight is free of ejecta dust, and 1036 erg s−1 ( erg s−1 cm−2 Hz−1) in 2-10 keV X-rays. Our X-ray limits are an order of magnitude less constraining than previous limits because we use a more realistic ejecta absorption model based on three-dimensional neutrino-driven SN explosion models. The allowed bolometric luminosity of the compact object is 22 L if our line of sight is free of ejecta dust, or 138 L if dust-obscured. Depending on assumptions, these values limit the effective temperature of a neutron star (NS) to -8 MK and do not exclude models, which typically are in the range 3-4 MK. For the simplest accretion model, the accretion rate for an efficiency is limited to M yr−1, which excludes most predictions. For pulsar activity modeled by a rotating magnetic dipole in vacuum, the limit on the magnetic field strength (B) for a given spin period (P) is G s−2, which firmly excludes pulsars comparable to the Crab. By combining information about radiation reprocessing and geometry, we infer that the compact object is a dust-obscured thermally emitting NS, which may appear as a region of higher-temperature ejecta dust emission.
Apple bitter rot caused by Colletotrichum species is a growing problem worldwide. Colletotrichum spp. are economically important but taxonomically un-resolved. Identification of Colletotrichum spp. ...is critical due to potential species-level differences in pathogenicity-related characteristics. A 400-isolate collection from New York apple orchards were morphologically assorted to two groups, C. acutatum species complex (CASC) and C. gloeosporioides species complex (CGSC). A sub-sample of 44 representative isolates, spanning the geographical distribution and apple varieties, were assigned to species based on multi-locus phylogenetic analyses of nrITS, GAPDH and TUB2 for CASC, and ITS, GAPDH, CAL, ACT, TUB2, APN2, ApMat and GS genes for CGSC. The dominant species was C. fioriniae, followed by C. chrysophilum and a novel species, C. noveboracense, described in this study. This study represents the first report of C. chrysophilum and C. noveboracense as pathogens of apple. We assessed the enzyme activity and fungicide sensitivity for isolates identified in New York. All isolates showed amylolytic, cellulolytic and lipolytic, but not proteolytic activity. C. chrysophilum showed the highest cellulase and the lowest lipase activity, while C. noveboracense had the highest amylase activity. Fungicide assays showed that C. fioriniae was sensitive to benzovindiflupyr and thiabendazole, while C. chrysophilum and C. noveboracense were sensitive to fludioxonil, pyraclostrobin and difenoconazole. All species were pathogenic on apple fruit with varying lesion sizes. Our findings of differing pathogenicity-related characteristics among the three species demonstrate the importance of accurate species identification for any downstream investigations of Colletotrichum spp. in major apple growing regions.
Apple growers in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States have been reporting an increase in losses to bitter rot of apple and are requesting up-to-date management recommendations. Management is ...complicated by variations in apple cultivar susceptibility, temperature, rainfall, and biology of the Colletotrichum spp. that cause bitter rot. Over 500 apple fruit with bitter rot were obtained from 38 orchards across the Mid-Atlantic and the causal species were identified as Colletotrichum fioriniae and C. nymphaeae of the C. acutatum species complex and C. chrysophilum, C. noveboracense, C. siamense, C. fructicola, C. henanense, and C. gloeosporioides sensu stricto of the C. gloeosporioides species complex, the latter two being first reports. Species with faster in vitro growth rates at higher temperatures were more abundant in warmer regions of the Mid-Atlantic, while those with slower growth rates at higher temperatures were more abundant in cooler regions. Regional bloom dates are earlier and weather data show a gradual warming trend that likely influenced but was not necessarily the main cause of the recent increase in bitter rot in the region. A grower survey of apple cultivar susceptibility showed high variation, with the increase in acres planted to the highly susceptible cultivar Honeycrisp broadly corresponding to the increase in reports of bitter rot. These results form a basis for future studies on the biology and ecology of the Colletotrichum spp. responsible, and suggest that integrated bitter rot management must begin with selection of less-susceptible apple cultivars.
Rapid apple decline (RAD) is a complex phenomenon affecting cultivated apple trees and particularly dwarf rootstocks on grafted young apple trees. Since its first appearance in the United States, RAD ...has been reported worldwide, for example in Canada, South America, Africa, and Asia. The phenomenon has also been observed in apple orchards in Korea, and it presented similar symptoms regardless of apple cultivar and cultivation period. Most previous reports have suggested that RAD may be associated with multiple factors, including plant pathogenic infections, abiotic stresses, environmental conditions, and the susceptibility of trees to cold injury during winter. However, RAD was observed to be more severe and affect more frequently apple trees on the Malling series dwarf rootstock. In this study, we reviewed the current status of RAD worldwide and surveyed biotic and abiotic factors that are potentially closely related to it in Korea.
Fungi are highly important biotic components of terrestrial ecosystems, but we still have a very limited understanding about their diversity and distribution. This data article releases a global soil ...fungal dataset of the Global Soil Mycobiome consortium (GSMc) to boost further research in fungal diversity, biogeography and macroecology. The dataset comprises 722,682 fungal operational taxonomic units (OTUs) derived from PacBio sequencing of full-length ITS and 18S-V9 variable regions from 3200 plots in 108 countries on all continents. The plots are supplied with geographical and edaphic metadata. The OTUs are taxonomically and functionally assigned to guilds and other functional groups. The entire dataset has been corrected by excluding chimeras, index-switch artefacts and potential contamination. The dataset is more inclusive in terms of geographical breadth and phylogenetic diversity of fungi than previously published data. The GSMc dataset is available over the PlutoF repository.
Solitary bees are often exposed to various pesticides applied for pest control on farmland while providing pollination services to food crops. Increasing evidence suggests that sublethal toxicity of ...agricultural pesticides affects solitary bees differently than the social bees used to determine regulatory thresholds, such as honey bees and bumblebees. Studies on solitary bees are challenging because of the difficulties in obtaining large numbers of eggs or young larvae for bioassays. Here we show the toxic and sublethal developmental effects of four widely used plant systemic pesticides on the Japanese orchard bee (Osmia cornifrons). Pollen food stores of this solitary bee were treated with different concentrations of three insecticides (acetamiprid, flonicamid, and sulfoxaflor) and a fungicide (dodine). Eggs were transplanted to the treated pollen and larvae were allowed to feed on the pollen stores after egg hatch. The effects of chronic ingestion of contaminated pollen were measured until adult eclosion. This year-long study revealed that chronic exposure to all tested pesticides delayed larval development and lowered larval and adult body weights. Additionally, exposure to the systemic fungicide resulted in abnormal larval defecation and increased mortality at the pupal stage, indicating potential risk to bees from fungicide exposure. These findings demonstrate potential threats to solitary bees from systemic insecticides and fungicides and will help in making policy decisions to mitigate these effects.
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•Japanese orchard bees exposed to pesticides suffered delayed development.•Fungicide exposure caused abnormal larval defecation and increased pupal mortality.•Exposure to systemic pesticides lowered larval and adult body weights.•This study emphasizes the necessity of tailored regulatory considerations for solitary bees.
Apple orchards with minimal or reduced fungicide inputs in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States have experienced outbreaks of severe premature defoliation with symptoms that matched those of ...apple blotch disease (ABD) caused by
Fungal isolates obtained from symptomatic apple leaves and fruit produced uniform slow-growing, dark-gray colonies on peptone potato dextrose agar and had conidia. Internal transcribed spacer DNA sequences matched with
and Koch's postulates were fulfilled when typical ABD symptoms occurred when reinoculated onto apple leaves and fruit. Spore dispersal in nonfungicide-treated orchards detected with quantitative PCR was low in early spring and dropped to undetectable levels in late May and early June before rising exponentially to highs in July and August, which coincided with symptom development. Only low spore numbers were detected in fungicide-treated orchards and nearby forests. In preliminary fungicide tests, fluxapyroxad, thiophanate methyl, and difenoconazole effectively inhibited mycelial growth of isolates in vitro. When apple cultivars Fuji and Honeycrisp were inoculated with
, Honeycrisp showed delayed onset of symptoms and lower disease severity, and the transcription profile of seven host defense-related genes showed that
, and
were highly induced in Honeycrisp at 2 and 5 days postinoculation. This is the first report of ABD in the Mid-Atlantic United States, which includes studies of seasonal
spore dispersal patterns, preliminary fungicide efficacy, and host defense-related gene expression to assist development of best ABD management practices.
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