Acremonium cucurbitacearum is a soil-borne pathogen that causes collapse of muskmelon and watermelon plants. Cluster analysis based on RAPD patterns, obtained from use of 25 primers, divided isolates of A. cucurbitacearum from Spain and USA into two major groups. Most isolates from the USA fell into group 1, however, genetic similarity was not highly correlated with geographical origins or with previously established VCG groups. Analysis of 5.8S-ITS sequences showed very little sequence variation among isolates of A. cucurbitacearum, most had identical 5.8S-ITS sequence. Nodulisporium melonis, previously reported to cause a similar disease in Japan, had a 5.8S-ITS sequence that was identical to that of isolate A-419 proposed as the type strain of Acremonium cucurbitacearum suggesting that the two fungal pathogens should be considered a single species. Phylogenetic analysis, based on the 5.8S-ITS region, indicated that Acremonium cucurbitacearum is a monophyletic taxon more closely related to Plectosphaerella cucumerina than to other species of the genus Acremonium. Based on the 5.8S-ITS nucleotide sequence, a polymerase chain reaction was designed and used for specific detection of A. cucurbitacearum in diseased plants.
Acremonium collapse – Nodulisporium melonis – PCR detection – phylogenetic analysis – RAPD-PCR
P.V. Martínez-culebras, P. Abad-campos and J. García-jiménez
European Journal of Plant Pathology, Volume 110, Number 8 – SpringerLink.
