Botryosphaeriaceae associated with Acacia heterophylla (La Réunion) and A. koa (Hawaii)

In this study, we compared the fungi in the Botryosphaeriaceae isolated from natural populations of A. koa and A. heterophylla. These fungi were chosen because they commonly occur on woody plants and some are important pathogens. They are also known to have been moved globally on asymptomatic plant material making a comparison between related hosts occurring in distant areas interesting. Isolates were identified based on comparisons of DNA sequence data for the rDNA-ITS, TEF1-α and β-tubulin loci. Ten Botryosphaeriaceae species were identified, of which four species were specific to A. koa from the Hawaiian Islands and five to A. heterophylla in La Réunion. Only one species, Neofusicoccum parvum, which is known to have a wide global distribution, was common to both hosts. The overall results show that A. koa and A. heterophylla are hosts to invasive Botryosphaeriaceae in the Hawaiian Islands and La Reunion, most of which are also known from elsewhere in the world. They are consequently likely to be of alien origin and not native to the areas in which they were collected in this study. Although A. koae and A. heterophylla share a recent evolutionary history, the results of this study suggest that they have established independent microbiota, at least in terms of the Botryosphaeriaceae.

Source: Fungal Biology - July 21, 2019 Category: Biology Source Type: research