Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Identification and characterization of Pythium graminicola, causal agent of kikuyu yellows in Argentina

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Tropical Plant Pathology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Kikuyu grass (Pennisetum clandestinum) is a perennial plant that belongs to the Poaceae family. In Argentina, it is used in warm areas as tropical pasture, forage and grass in gardens and sports fields. Species of Pythium have a cosmopolitan distribution and are important pathogens of a wide range of plant hosts. In the spring of 2009, a new disease affected areas cultivated with kikuyu grass in different parks located near the city of Buenos Aires. The symptoms were an evident chlorosis of leaves, which got circular as the affected area expanded, followed by severely rotten roots and blighting. The aim of this study was to identify the causal agent of kikuyu yellows in Argentina. An oomycete was consistently isolated from diseased tissues. The pathogen was identified as Pythium graminicola based on cultural characteristics and the morphology of vegetative and reproductive structures. Phylogenetic analyses were performed based on combined sequence datasets of the internal transcribed spacer of the nuclear rDNA and the beta tubulin gene. Pathogenicity tests were carried out and Koch’s postulates were fulfilled. This is the first report of P. graminicola causing kikuyu yellows in Argentina and in the world.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abad ZG, Shew HD, Lucas LT (1994) Characterization and pathogenicity of Pythium species isolated from turfgrass with symptoms of root and crown rot in North Carolina. Phytopathology 84:913–921

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Akaike H (1974) A new look at the statistical model identification. IEEE Trans Autom Control 19:716–723

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Altschul SF, Madden TL, Schaffer AA, Zhang J, Zhang Z, Miller W, Lipman DJ (1997) Gapped BLAST and PSI-BLAST: a new generation of protein database search programs. Nucleic Acid Research 25:389–402

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bala K, Robideau GP, Lévesque A, Cock AWAM, Abad ZG, Lodhi AM, Shahzad S, Ghaffar A, Coffey MD (2010) Phytopythium sindhum. Persoonia 24:136–137

    Google Scholar 

  • Baptista F, Pires-Zottarelli C, Rocha M, Milanez A (2004) The genus Pythium Pringsheim from Brazilian cerrado areas, in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. Rev Bras Bot 27:281–290

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bransgrove K (2015) Soil-borne turfgrass diseases Available at: http://www2.dpi.qld.gov.au/extra/pdf/hort/turfgrass_diseases.pdf. Accessed on February 1, 2015.

  • CABI (2015) Invasive Species Compendium Available at: http://www.cabi.org/isc/datasheet/39765. Accessed on March 12, 2015.

  • CBS (2016) CBS strain database Available at: http://www.cbs.knaw.nl/collections. Accessed on October 12, 2016.

  • Dick MW (1990) Keys to Pythium. University of Reading, Reading

    Google Scholar 

  • Dick M, Wong P, Clark G (1984) The identity of the oomycete causing 'Kikuyu Yellows', with a reclassification of the downy mildews. Bot J Linn Soc 89:171–197

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Drechsler C (1930) Some new species of Pythium. J Wash Acad Sci 20:398–418

    Google Scholar 

  • Frezzi MJ (1956) Especies de Pythium fitopatógenas identificadas en la República Argentina. Revista de Investigaciones Agrícolas 10:113–241

    Google Scholar 

  • Grijalba P, Palmucci H (2011) Verrucalvus flavofaciens ocasionando el amarillamiento del kikuyo en Argentina. II Congreso Argentino de Fitopatología. Proceedings... Sociedad Argentina de Fitopatología, Mar del Plata.

  • Hasegawa M, Kishino H, Yano T (1985) Dating of the human-ape splitting by a molecular clock of mitochondrial DNA. J Mol Evol 21:160–174

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kageyama K, Nakashima A, Kajihara Y, Suga H, Nelson EB (2005) Phylogenetic and morphological analyses of Pythium graminicola and related species. J Gen Plant Pathol 71:174–182

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Layon M (2000) GeneTool 1.0. Biotech Software and Internet Report 1:261–264

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lévesque CA, Cock AWAM (2004) Molecular phylogeny and taxonomy of the genus Pythium. Mycol Res 108:1363–1383

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lodhi AM (2007) Taxonomic studies on oomycetous fungi from Sindh. Available at: http://eprints.hec.gov.pk/2312/1/2167.htm. Acessed on May 3, 2015.

  • Middleton JT (1943) The taxonomy host range and geographical distribution of the genus Pyhium. Mem Torrey Bot Club 20:1–171

  • Nechwatal J, Wielgoss A, Mendgen K (2005) Pythium phragmitis sp. nov., a new species close to P. arrhenomanes as a pathogen of common reed (Phragmites australis). Mycol Res 109:1337–1346

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nome SF, Docampo DM, Conci LR (2012) Atlas e índice de enfermedades de plantas cultivadas y nativas, explotadas de Argentina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria Available at: http://rian.inta.gov.ar/atlas/. Accessed on March 14, 2017.

  • Nylander JAA, Ronquist F, Huelsenbeck JP, Nieves-Aldrey JL (2004) Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of combined data. Systematic Biology 53(1):47–67.

  • Paul B (2001) ITS region of the rDNA of Pythium proliferatum, a new species: its taxonomy and its comparison with related species. FEMS Microbiol Lett 206:191–196

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paul B, Bala K, Belbahri L, Calmin G, Sanchez-Hernandez E, Lefort F (2006) A new species of Pythium with ornamented oogonia: morphology, taxonomy, ITS region of its rDNA, and its comparison with related species. FEMS Microbiol Lett 254:317–323

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rambaut A (2009) FigTree. Tree figure drawing tool version 1.3.1. Available at http://tree.bio.ed.ac.uk/software/figtree.

  • Rambaut A, Drummond AJ (2009) Tracer MCMC Trace analysis tool version 1.5.0 Available at http://tree.bio.ed.ac.uk/software/tracer. Accessed on March 14, 2017.

  • Richard WS, Peter HD, Bruce BC (2005) Compendium of Turfgrass diseases, 3rd edn. APS Press, St Paul.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robideau GP, Cock AWAM, Coffey MD, Voglmayr H, Brouwer H, Bala K, Chitty DW, Désaulniers N, Eggertson QA, Gachon CMM, Hu C-H, Küpper FC, Rintoul TL, Sarhan E, Verstappen ECP, Yonghong Zhang Bonants PJM, Ristaino JB, Lévesque CA (2011) DNA barcoding of oomycetes with cytochrome c oxidase subunit I and internal transcribed spacer. Mol Ecol Resour 11:1002–1011

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Ronquist F, Huelsenbeck JP (2003) MrBayes 3: Bayesian phylogenetic inference under mixed models. Bioinformatics 19:1572–1574

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schmitthenner AF, Hobe M, Bhat RG (1994) Phytophthora sojae races in Ohio over a 10-year interval. Plant Dis 78:269–276

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singh KK, Mathew R, Masih EI, Paul BM (2003) ITS region of the rDNA of Pythium rhizosaccharum sp. nov. isolated from sugarcane roots: taxonomy and comparison with related species. FEMS Microbiol Lett 221:233–236

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tamura K, Stecher G, Peterson D, Filipski A, Kumar S (2013) MEGA6: Molecular evolutionary genetics analysis version 6.0. Mol Biol Evol 30:2725–2729

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Thines M, Telle S, Choi Y, Tan Y, Shivas RG (2015) Baobabopsis, a new genus of graminicolous downy mildews from tropical Australia, with an updated key to the genera of downy mildews. IMA Fungus 6:483–491

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Van der Plaats-Niterink AJ (1981) Monograph of the genus Pythium. Studies in mycology no. 21. Centraalbureau Voor Schimmelcultures, Baarn.

  • Villa NO, Kageyama K, Asano T, Suga H (2006) Phylogenetic relationships of Pythium and Phytophthora species based on ITS rDNA, cytochrome oxidase II and β-tubulin gene sequences. Mycologia 98:410–422

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Waterhouse GM (1968) The genus Pythium Pringsheim. Mycological papers 110. Commonwealth Mycological Institute, Kew.

  • Waterhouse GM, Waterston JM (1964) Pythium graminicola. CMI Descriptions of Pathogenic Fungi and Bacteria 38:1–2

  • White TJ, Bruns T, Lee S, Taylor JW (1990) Amplification and direct sequencing of fungal ribosomal RNA genes for phylogenetics. In: Innis MA, Gelfand DH, Sninsky JJ, White TJ (eds) PCR protocols: a guide to methods and applications. Academic Press, New York, pp 315–322

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dr. Gloria Abad (USDA-APHIS-PPQ Center for Plant Health Science & Technology). This research would have been impossible without her great knowledge.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cátedra de Fitopatología, Departamento de Producción Vegetal, Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Avenida San Martín 4453 (1417), CABA, Argentina

    Pablo E. Grijalba & Hemilse E. Palmucci

  2. Instituto de Genética Favret, INTA Castelar, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Eduardo Guillin

Authors
  1. Pablo E. Grijalba
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Hemilse E. Palmucci
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Eduardo Guillin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Pablo E. Grijalba.

Additional information

Section Editor: Meike Piepenbring

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

ESM 1

(NEXUS 48.5 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Grijalba, P.E., Palmucci, H.E. & Guillin, E. Identification and characterization of Pythium graminicola, causal agent of kikuyu yellows in Argentina. Trop. plant pathol. 42, 284–290 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40858-017-0149-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40858-017-0149-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation