''Colletotrichum fioriniae'' is a
fungal
A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; 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 one of the tradit ...
plant pathogen and
endophyte 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 (biology), hybrid plant cultivated worldwide for its fruit. The genus ''Fragaria'', the strawberries, is in the rose family, Rosaceae. The fruit ...
, 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 approximately 8,0 ...
s,
bitter rot of apple, anthracnose of
peach
The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and Agriculture, cultivated in China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and the glossy-skinned, non-fuzzy varieties called necta ...
, and anthracnose of
blueberry. Its ecological role in the
natural environment
The natural environment or natural world encompasses all life, biotic and abiotic component, abiotic things occurring nature, naturally, meaning in this case not artificiality, artificial. The term is most often applied to Earth or some parts ...
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 (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of the Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ran ...
trees and shrubs
and in some cases may function as an
entomopathogen with insecticidal properties.
Taxonomic history
''C. fioriniae'' was formally described as a variety of ''
Colletotrichum acutatum'' in 2008,
and as its own species shortly thereafter. However, while it had not previously been recognized as a separate species, when grown on
potato dextrose agar 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''. 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 regions such as the
internally transcribed spacer (ITS), or
intron
An intron is any nucleotide sequence within a gene that is not expressed or operative in the final RNA product. The word ''intron'' is derived from the term ''intragenic region'', i.e., a region inside a gene."The notion of the cistron .e., gen ...
s in the
GAPDH,
histone3,
beta-tubulin, 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 ...
genes.
Reproduction
Like other species in the ''C. acutatum'' species complex, ''C. fioriniae'' reproduces almost exclusively via the production of
asexual spores called
conidia
A conidium ( ; : conidia), sometimes termed an asexual chlamydospore or chlamydoconidium (: chlamydoconidia), is an asexual, non- motile spore of a fungus. The word ''conidium'' comes from the Ancient Greek word for dust, ('). They are also ...
.
These conidia are often produced in sticky gelatinous orange masses that are rain-splash dispersed.
Conidia are mostly produced at temperatures from 10 to 30 °C, such that in
temperate deciduous forests and
orchards rain-splash dispersal occurs from bud-break to leaf drop.
Pathogenic lifestyle
As a
plant pathogen, ''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.
Ecological interactions
''Colletotrichum fioriniae'' is a major pathogen of many soft-skinned fruits such as
blueberries and
strawberries. Blueberries infested with ''C. fioriniae'' were found to differentially emit
isobutyraldehyde,
isobutanol,
2-methyl-1-butanol,
isoamyl alcohol,
isoprenol, (E)-2-hexen-1-ol,
styrene,
ethyl propionate, ethyl 2-methylpropanoate,
ethyl butyrate,
diethyl carbonate, ethyl (E)-but-2-enoate, ethyl 3-hydroxy-3-methylbutanoate, and
acetoin. Some of these
volatiles, specifically ethyl (E)-but-2-enoate and ethyl butyrate, have been found to repel
spotted-wing drosophila one of the major
insect
Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...
pests of soft-skinned fruit.
[ ]
References
Further reading
* Suppl. T 1 & 2 Taxonomy, taxonomic IDs, 14
predicted proteins:
:*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q110313978
Colletotrichum
Fungus species