Project description:Swim bladder mycosis in farmed rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss caused by Phoma herbarum and experimental verification of pathogenicity
Project description:Phoma macdonaldii causes black stem in sunflower, which severely affects both the yield and quality of sunflowers including weight and oil content of seeds. In this study, a global proteomic analysis of P. macdonaldii was performed in order to facilitate a better understand of the biological and pathogenic characteristics of this fungus. A total of 1,498 proteins were identified by LC-MS/MS in all biological replicates. The identified proteins were classified into functional categories, which included biological process, cellular components and molecular function (GO analysis), metabolism, genetic information progressing, environmental information progressing, cellular processes and organismal systems (KEGG). In addition, the expression of eight genes associated with fungal development and pathogenicity was further investigated. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to characterize the proteome of P. macdonaldii. Results from this study provide novel insights into fungal development and pathogenesis of P. macdonaldii and, perhaps even other Phoma species and may contribute to an enhanced understanding the sunflower and P. macdonaldii pathosystem
Project description:Species of Didymellaceae have a cosmopolitan distribution and are geographically widespread, occurring in diverse ecosystems. The family includes several important plant pathogenic fungi associated with fruit, leaf, stem and root diseases on a wide variety of hosts, as well as endophytic, saprobic and clinically relevant species. The Didymellaceae was recently revised based on morphological and phylogenetic analyses of ex-type strains subjected to DNA sequencing of partial gene data of the LSU, ITS, rpb2 and tub2 loci. Several poly- and paraphyletic genera, including Ascochyta, Didymella and Phoma were redefined, along with the introduction of new genera. In the present study, a global collection of 1 124 Didymellaceae strains from 92 countries, 121 plant families and 55 other substrates, including air, coral, human tissues, house dust, fungi, insects, soil, and water were examined via multi-locus phylogenetic analyses and detailed morphological comparisons, representing the broadest sampling of Didymellaceae to date. Among these, 97 isolates representing seven new genera, 40 new species and 21 new combinations were newly introduced in Didymellaceae. In addition, six epitypes and six neotypes were designated to stabilise the taxonomy and use of older names. A robust, multi-locus reference phylogenetic tree of Didymellaceae was generated. In addition, rpb2 was revealed as the most effective locus for the identification of Didymellaceae at species level, and is proposed as a secondary DNA marker for the family.