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Ilyonectria palmarum sp. nov. causing dry basal stem rot of Arecaceae

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Abstract

During surveys conducted in 2010–2013, a complete breakage or bending of the trunk and a dry basal stem rot were observed on containerised Brahea armata, B. edulis, Howea forsteriana and Trachycarpus princeps plants in different nurseries located in eastern Sicily (southern Italy). A cylindrocarpon-like species was consistently obtained from diseased palm tissues, while known pathogens of these hosts such as Ganoderma, Phytophthora and Thielaviopsis were not found associated with symptomatic tissues or isolated on standard or selective media. A total of 40 cylindrocarpon-like isolates were collected and characterised based on morphology and DNA phylogeny. Multigene analyses based on the β-tubulin, histone H3, translation elongation factor 1-α, and the internal transcribed spacers (ITS1, 5.8S, ITS2) genes facilitated the identification of a new species, described here as Ilyonectria palmarum. The pathogenicity of one representative isolate collected from each palm species was tested on plants cultivated under nursery conditions and in a growth chamber. All isolates were pathogenic to B. armata, B. edulis, H. forsteriana, and T. princeps and symptoms identical to that observed in nurseries were reproduced. Dry basal stem rot and stem bending caused by Ilyonectria palmarum represents a potentially serious problem for nurseries cultivating containerised palms.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by MIUR project number PON01_01611 (SO.PRO.ME: Sustainable production of potted plants in Mediterranean environment”). The authors would like to thank Gaetano Stea for his valuable technical help in DNA sequencing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Gestione dei Sistemi Agroalimentari e Ambientali, Sezione Patologia Vegetale, University of Catania, Via S. Sofia 100, 95123, Catania, Italy

    Dalia Aiello, Vladimiro Guarnaccia, Alessandro Vitale, Gabriella Cirvilleri & Giancarlo Polizzi

  2. Formerly, Dipartimento di Gestione dei Sistemi Agroalimentari e Ambientali, Sezione Patologia Vegetale, University of Catania, Via S. Sofia 100, 95123, Catania, Italy

    Giovanni Granata

  3. Istituto di Scienze delle Produzioni Alimentari (ISPA), Via Amendola 122/O, 70126, Bari, Italy

    Filomena Epifani & Giancarlo Perrone

  4. CBS-KNAW Fungal Biodiversity Centre, Uppsalalaan 8, 3584 CT, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Johannes Z. Groenewald & Pedro W. Crous

  5. Laboratory of Phytopathology, Wageningen University and Research Centre (WUR), Droevendaalsesteeg 1, 6708 PB, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Pedro W. Crous

  6. Microbiology, Department of Biology, Utrecht University, Padualaan 8, 3584 CH, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Pedro W. Crous

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  1. Dalia Aiello
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  2. Vladimiro Guarnaccia
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  3. Alessandro Vitale
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  5. Giovanni Granata
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  10. Pedro W. Crous
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Correspondence to Giancarlo Polizzi.

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Fig. S3

Phylogenetic tree resulting from the Maximum Likelihood method. The best tree resulting in the highest log likelihood (−6807.4661) is shown; it was derived from the combined sequence data of three loci (benA, TEF-1a and HIS3) of 17 Ilyonectria/Neonectria reference species, 40 strains of Ilyonectria palmarum sp. nov., and the outgroup strain of Campylocarpon fasciculare. Bootstrap values >70 % are shown at the nodes (PPT 69 kb)

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Aiello, D., Guarnaccia, V., Vitale, A. et al. Ilyonectria palmarum sp. nov. causing dry basal stem rot of Arecaceae. Eur J Plant Pathol 138, 347–359 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10658-013-0334-0

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