First report of Pestalotiopsis biciliata causing dieback on Quercus coccifera and Pistacia lentiscus in Tunisia

Figures & data

Table 1. Pestalotiopsis isolates included in the phylogenetic analysis (*).

Strain	Species	Host	Country	GenBank accession numbers
				ITS	TEF
CBS 186.71	Pestalotiopsis chamaeropis	Chamaerops humilis	Italy	KM199326	KM199473
CBS 113604	P. chamaeropis	-	-	KM199323	KM19947
CBS 790.68	P. biciliata	Taxus baccata	Netherlands	KM199305	KM199507
CBS 124463	P. biciliata	Platanus hispanica	Slovakia	KM199308	KM199505
CBS 236.38	P. biciliata	Paeonia sp.	Italy	KM199309	KM199506
TN.20	P. biciliata	Quercus coccifera	Tunisia	MN841932	MN942034
TN.109	P. biciliata	Pistacia lentiscus	Tunisia	MN846272	MT241507
CBS 442.67	P. kenyana	Coffea sp.	Kenya	KM199302	KM199502
CBS 911.96	P. kenyana	-	-	KM199303	KM199503
IFRDCC 2403	P. trachicarpicola	Podocarpus macrophyllus	China	KC537809	KC53781
IFRDCC 2440	P. trachicarpicola	Podocarpus macrophyllus	China	JQ845947	JQ845946
CBS 122616	Seiridium cupressi	Cupressus sp.	Greece	LT853082	LT853179

*Isolates generated in this study are indicated in italic.

Table 2. Identity of the isolates, GenBank accession numbers of the sequences, spores size and necrosis length.

Sites	Hosts*	Isolates	GenBank accession numbers		Spores size (µm)		Necrosis length** (cm)
			ITS	tef1-α	Length	Width
Henchir kort	Qc	TN.20 Control	MN841932 -	MN942034 -	21.84 ± 0.38 -	4.94 ± 0.19 -	5 ± 0.00 0.9 ± 0.3
Rimel	Pl	TN.109 Control	MN846272-	MT241507-	22.62 ± 0.55-	5.77 ± 0.34-	4.66 ± 0.19 1.1 ± 0.0

*Qc = Quercus coccifera, Pl = Pistacia lentiscus.

**Mean values correspond to the sum of both upward and downward extent of vascular necrosis (5 repetitions per isolate) measured from the point of inoculation ± SE.

Fig. 1 Dieback symptoms caused by Pestalotiopsis: necrotic lesion with numerous black acervuli on infected shoots of Pistacia lentiscus (a) and Quercus coccifera (b).

Fig. 2 Morphological characteristics of Pestalotiopsos biciliata; colony with conidiomata on PDA after 10 d growth at 25°C (a) and conidia with concolorous median cells (b). Scale bars: 10 μm.

Fig. 3 Phylogenetic tree obtained from combined ITS and tef1-α sequence data of Pestalotopsis biciliata. Bootstrap support values (%) from 1000 replications are shown at the nodes. The scale bar indicates 0.005 substitutions per site. The tree is rooted to Seiridium cupressi CBS122616.

Fig. 4 Pathogenicity assay: asymptomatic control (a1, b1) and vascular necrosis caused by Pestalotiopsis biciliata on excised branches of Pistacia lentiscus (a2) and Quercus coccifera (b2) six weeks after inoculation.