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ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #106847
Title: MOLECULAR AND MORPHOLOGICAL VARIATION OF PHOMOPSIS ISOLATED FROM VACCINUM

Author
item Farr, David
item Castlebury, Lisa

Submitted to: Mycologia
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/3/2001
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: The fungus Phomopsis causes several disease of blueberries including Phomopsis twig blight and fruit rot and Phomopsis canker. At present it is not possible to characterize the precise species of Phomopsis that cause these diseases and more than one species may be involved. Strains of Phomopsis isolated from twigs and fruits of blueberries in North Carolina were studied to determine their molecular, cultural and morphological characteristics. Two groups of fungi were discovered. One of these was identical to a fungus previously isolated and characterized from blueberries in New Jersey. Three strains from North Carolina and two strains isolated from Vaccinium in Oregon and Washington were found to be different. This research will be used to determine the identity of species of Phomopsis causing diseases on blueberries.

Technical Abstract: Fourteen isolates of Phomopsis were obtained from twigs and one isolate from berries of Vaccinium corymbosum 'Harrison", grown in field plots near Wilmington, NC. These isolates were segregated into two groups based on comparisons using morphology, growth in culture and rDNA sequences of the ITS region. Conidiomata morphology, conidial dimensions, and cultural characteristics are used to differentiate the two groups.