Poster Session: New and Emerging Diseases - Fungi and Oomycetes

430-P

Diversity of sooty blotch and flyspeck fungi from apples in Spain.
J. BATZER (1), M. Miñarro (2), J. Svendsen (1), E. O’Neill (1), M. Gleason (1)
(1) Iowa State University, Ames, IA, U.S.A.; (2) Servicio Regional de Investigación y Desarrollo Agroalimentario, Asturias, Spain

Fungi in the sooty blotch and flyspeck (SBFS) complex blemish apple fruit and reduce market value. In 2010 apples were collected from 16 orchards in northern Spain. SBFS colonies with subtending cuticle were excised, pressed, and shipped to Ames, Iowa for isolation. A total of 215 isolates were obtained. After a portion of the rDNA was amplified with primer pair VG9/LR5, two regions were sequenced with primer pairs ITS1-F/ITS4 and LROR/LR5. Parsimony analysis of the LSU was used to place fungi into order. Putative species were delineated from the ITS sequences and morphology. Most (89%) of isolates were within the class Dothideomycetes, order Capnodiales. Within this order, 86 isolates were Schiyzothryrium spp., including S. pomi, Z. cryptogama and three previously undescribed putative species. Microcyclosporella mali (45 isolates) and four species of Microcyclospora spp. (36 isolates) were also widely prevalent. Four putative species in the Stomiopeltis-like clade included 11 isolates. A new putative species of Ramichloridium was detected in 5 orchards (11 isolates). Our survey revealed that the SBFS complex in northern Spain includes at least 25 species in 4 orders and further documents the worldwide genetic diversity within the SBFS complex.