fungal
A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from th ...
plant pathogen
Plant pathology (also phytopathology) is the scientific study of diseases in plants caused by pathogens (infectious organisms) and environmental conditions (physiological factors). Organisms that cause infectious disease include fungi, oomyc ...
and
endophyte
An endophyte is an endosymbiont, often a bacterium or fungus, that lives within a plant for at least part of its life cycle without causing apparent disease. Endophytes are ubiquitous and have been found in all species of plants studied to date; h ...
of fruits and foliage of many broadleaved plants worldwide. It causes diseases on agriculturally important crops, including anthracnose of
strawberry
The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown hybrid species of the genus '' Fragaria'', collectively known as the strawberries, which are cultivated worldwide for their fruit. The fruit is widely ap ...
, ripe rot of
grape
A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus '' Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters.
The cultivation of grapes began perhaps 8,000 years a ...
peach
The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and cultivated in Zhejiang province of Eastern China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and others (the glossy-skinned, non-fu ...
, and anthracnose of blueberry. Its ecological role in the
natural environment
The natural environment or natural world encompasses all life, living and non-living things occurring nature, naturally, meaning in this case not Artificiality, artificial. The term is most often applied to the Earth or some parts of Earth. Th ...
is less well understood, other than it is a common leaf endophyte of many
temperate
In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...
trees and shrubs and in some cases may function as an entomopathogen.
Taxonomic history
''C. fioriniae'' was formally described as a variety of ''
Colletotrichum acutatum
''Colletotrichum acutatum'' is a plant pathogen and endophyte. It is the organism that causes the most destructive fungal disease, anthracnose, of lupin species worldwide.
It also causes the disease postbloom fruit drop on many varieties of citru ...
'' in 2008, and as its own species shortly thereafter. However, while it had not previously been recognized as a separate species, when grown on
it produces a distinct pink to maroon red color on the bottom side and was described in historical studies as "chromogenic" isolates of ''
Glomerella cingulata
''Glomerella cingulata'' is a fungal plant pathogen, being the name of the sexual stage (teleomorph) while the more commonly referred to asexual stage ( anamorph) is called ''Colletotrichum gloeosporioides''. For most of this article the pathoge ...
''. It is currently recognized as a species within the '' C. acutatum''
species complex
In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...
.
Identification
''C. fioriniae'' produces conidia that are smooth-walled, hyaline (glassy and translucent), with acute (pointed) ends, measuring about 15 x 4.5 microns. When grown on potato dextrose agar it usually produces a pink to dark red chromogenic color on the reverse side. However, these morphological characteristic overlap with those of other species in the ''C. acutatum'' species complex, so definitive identification requires the sequencing of
DNA barcoding
DNA barcoding is a method of species identification using a short section of DNA from a specific gene or genes. The premise of DNA barcoding is that by comparison with a reference library of such DNA sections (also called " sequences"), an indi ...
GAPDH
Glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (abbreviated GAPDH) () is an enzyme of about 37kDa that catalyzes the sixth step of glycolysis and thus serves to break down glucose for energy and carbon molecules. In addition to this long establishe ...
beta-tubulin
Tubulin in molecular biology can refer either to the tubulin protein superfamily of globular proteins, or one of the member proteins of that superfamily. α- and β-tubulins polymerize into microtubules, a major component of the eukaryotic cytoske ...
, or
actin
Actin is a family of globular multi-functional proteins that form microfilaments in the cytoskeleton, and the thin filaments in muscle fibrils. It is found in essentially all eukaryotic cells, where it may be present at a concentration of over ...
genes.
Reproduction
Like other species in the ''C. acutatum'' species complex, ''C. fioriniae'' reproduces almost exclusively via the production of asexual spores called conidia. These conidia are often produced in sticky gelatinous orange masses that are rain-splash dispersed
Pathogenic lifestyle
As a
plant pathogen
Plant pathology (also phytopathology) is the scientific study of diseases in plants caused by pathogens (infectious organisms) and environmental conditions (physiological factors). Organisms that cause infectious disease include fungi, oomyc ...
, ''C. fioriniae'' has a hemibiotrophic lifestyle, where infections are initially biotrophic (or latent or quiescent, depending on the point of view) before switching to necrotrophy and active killing of the plant cells.