Penicillium species endophytic in coffee plants and ochratoxin A production

Abstract

Tissues from Coffea arabica, C. congensis, C. dewevrei and C. liberica collected in Colombia, Hawaii and at a local plant nursery in Maryland were sampled for the presence of fungal endophytes. Surface sterilized tissues including roots, leaves, stems and various berry parts were plated on yeast-malt agar. DNA was extracted from a set of isolates visually recognized as Penicillium, and the internal transcribed spacer region and partial LSU-rDNA was amplified and sequenced. Comparison of DNA sequences with GenBank and unpublished sequences revealed the presence of 11 known Penicillium species: P. brevicompactum, P. brocae, P. cecidicola, P. citrinum, P. coffeae, P. crustosum, P. janthinellum, P. olsonii, P. oxalicum, P. sclerotiorum and P. steckii as well as two possibly undescribed species near P. diversum and P. roseopurpureum. Ochratoxin A was produced by only four isolates, one isolate each of P. brevicompactum, P. crustosum, P. olsonii and P. oxalicum. The role these endophytes play in the biology of the coffee plant remains enigmatic.

• Coffea arabica
• Coffea congensis
• Coffea dewevrei
• Coffea liberica
• endophytes
• OTA

FEV thanks Chifumi Nagai (Hawaii Agriculture Research Center), Skip Bittenbender, Brent Sipes, Donna R. Ching, Virginia Easton Smith and Alan Teramura (University of Hawaii), Ray Baker (Lyon Arboretum), Tim Martin and Richard Loero (Kauai Coffee Co.), David W. Orr (Waimea Arboretum) and George Staples (Bishop Museum) for their hospitality during the collecting trip to Hawaii. Thanks also to Ann Sidor (ARS, Beltsville) for excellent assistance in the laboratory and during the collection trip to Hawaii, Jennifer J. Scoby (ARS, Peoria) for laboratory assistance during the sequencing phase of this project to Carlos Quintero (Centro Nacional de Investigaciones de Café) for assistance in obtaining field samples in Colombia, and Monica Pava-Ripoll (University of Maryland), Pat Dowd and Matt Greenstone (USDA) for comments on a previous version of this manuscript. The use of trade, firm, or corporation names in thisPUBLICation is for the information and convenience of the reader. Such use does not constitute an official endorsement or approval by the United States Department of Agriculture or the Agricultural Research Service of any product or service to the exclusion of others that may be suitable.