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Characterisation and risk assessment of the emerging Peronospora disease on Aquilegia

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Abstract

Aquilegia is a popular garden plant in the northern hemisphere as well as a native plant in the UK and continental Europe. In 2000, Semiaquilegia adoxoides was found infected by downy mildew in Korea, and since 2013 there have been several confirmed records of a Peronospora sp. affecting Aquilegia in the UK, with symptomatic plants being observed several years prior. Symptoms include yellow patches delineated by the veins on the leaves of affected plants, but systemically infected plants were also recorded, which are generally chlorotic and show curled leaf margins. A greyish down of conidiophores and conidia was observed on the lower side of infected leaves. Preliminary molecular phylogenetic analyses could not identify the causal agent at the species level, but revealed its affinities to other Peronospora species parasitic on the Ranunculales and Saxifragaceae. To our knowledge, this is the first occurrence of a downy mildew affecting a species of Aquilegia. Already, about 1 year after its confirmed first occurrence in the UK and 3 years after reported symptoms, a huge impact on infested gardens and nurseries has occurred. As oospore production has been observed and the pathogen can grow systemically, rendering seed transmission likely, this pathogen should be classified as a high risk pathogen for Aquilegia. Appropriate quarantine measures should be taken to restrict the pathogen from spreading.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are indebted to Carrie Thomas for her expert knowledge of Aquilegia, her detailed observations regarding disease progression, for her images of symptoms, and would like to thank her for invaluable support. MT is supported by the LOEWE programme of the government of Hesse, in the framework of the Research Cluster Integrative Fungal Research (IPF).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Plant Pathology, The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), Wisley, Working, Surrey, GU23 6QB, UK

    Geoffrey J. Denton, Elizabeth J. Beal, Anne Kilty & Jennifer O. Denton

  2. Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F), Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Young-Joon Choi & Marco Thines

  3. Department of Biological Sciences, Institute of Ecology, Evolution and Diversity, Goethe University, Max-von-Laue-Str. 13, 60439, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Young-Joon Choi & Marco Thines

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  1. Geoffrey J. Denton
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Correspondence to Geoffrey J. Denton.

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Denton, G.J., Beal, E.J., Kilty, A. et al. Characterisation and risk assessment of the emerging Peronospora disease on Aquilegia . Mycol Progress 14, 69 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11557-015-1092-5

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