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Diversity and pathogenicity of pestalotioid fungi associated with blueberry plants in Portugal, with description of three novel species of Neopestalotiopsis

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Abstract

Blueberries (Vaccinium corymbosum) have been increasingly cultivated in Portugal. Although blueberry is known to be susceptible to twig blight and dieback caused by pestalotioid fungi, there is still scarce information regarding this issue. To bridge this gap, a survey on blueberry plantations in Portugal was carried out to assess the diversity of pestalotioid fungi associated with symptomatic blueberry plants. A collection of 51 fungal isolates was characterized by multilocus sequence analyses of the rDNA internal transcribed spacer region (ITS), translation elongation factor 1-alpha (tef1-α) and β-tubulin (tub2). The phylogenetic analyses revealed the presence of Pestalotiopsis australis, P. biciliata, P. chamaeropis, Neopestalotiopsis rosae and three novel species described as Neopestalotiopsis scalabiensis, N. vaccinii and N. vacciniicola. The new species were fully characterized based on their morphology and temperature growth requirements. The pathogenicity trials carried out on cultivar “Duke” revealed that all isolates tested were pathogenic to blueberry plants, with N. rosae being the most aggressive species. This study provides the first report of P. chamaeropis, P. biciliata and P. australis associated with blueberry dieback and twig blight symptoms in Portugal and worldwide. Additionally, N. rosae is also newly reported from Portugal. This survey disclosed the occurrence of several pestalotioid species, which may represent a threat to Portuguese blueberry plantations.

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Acknowledgments

Thanks are due to the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT/MCTES) for the financial support to CESAM (UIDP/50017/2020 + UIDB/50017/2020), the PhD grant of Sandra Hilário (SFRH/BD/137394/2018).

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  1. CESAM (Centro de Estudos do Ambiente e do Mar), Departamento de Biologia, Universidade de Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal

    João Santos, Sandra Hilário, Glória Pinto & Artur Alves

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  1. João Santos
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Correspondence to Artur Alves.

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Santos, J., Hilário, S., Pinto, G. et al. Diversity and pathogenicity of pestalotioid fungi associated with blueberry plants in Portugal, with description of three novel species of Neopestalotiopsis. Eur J Plant Pathol 162, 539–555 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10658-021-02419-0

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