Botrytis polygoni, a new species of the genus Botrytis infecting Polygonaceae in Gansu, China

ABSTRACT

A new species, Botrytis polygoni, was isolated from several species of Polygonaceae in 2011 and 2012 in Tongwei County, Gansu Province, China. The species infects Fagopyrum esculentum, F. tataricum, and Fallopia convolvulus, causing brown leaf spots and large blotches with concentric rings in the field. Botrytis polygoni is morphologically characterized by conidia spherical, unicellular, hyaline to pale brown or brown, (10.2–)14.3–21.4(–23.5) μm; and sclerotia black, spherical to subspherical, allantoid, or irregular-shaped, 0.2–4.1 × 0.1–3.0 mm. Comparison of the nuc rDNA internal transcribed spacer region (ITS1-5.8S-ITS2) sequences confirmed its placement in the genus Botrytis. Phylogenetic analysis based on the protein-coding genes glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (G3PDH), heat shock protein 60 (HSP60), and DNA-dependent RNA polymerase subunit II (RPB2) showed that the new species is clustered close but separate from Botrytis pyriformis, which was distant from 37 other Botrytis species and 17 undescribed species. Pathogenicity tests showed that the new species has aggressive pathogenicity to four species of Polygonaceae, specifically Fag. tataricum, Fal. convolvulus, Polygonum sibiricum, and Pol. aviculare, weak pathogenicity to Vicia faba in the Fabaceae, and no pathogenicity to eight other tested plants: Amaranthus retroflexus, Cirsium arvense, Convolvulus arvensis, Kalanchoe blossfeldiana, Lagopsis supine, Mentha canadensis, Plantago asiatica, and Raphanus sativus.

KEYWORDS:

• Brown leaf spot
• buckwheat
• gray mold
• phylogenetic analysis
• spherical conidia
• 1 new taxon

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank Dr. Jan van Kan for generously sharing the sequences of the isolate DAN5.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Project of National Agricultural Product Quality Safety Risk Assessment (GJFP201801002) and Special Project of Agriculture Technology Innovation in Gansu Academy of Agricultural Sciences (2017GAAS23).