Pre-Penetration Behavior of Botryosphaeria dothidea on Apple Fruits

Pre-penetration behavior of Boytryosphaeria dothidea on apple fruits was investigated with scanning electron microscopy. Once conidia were deposited on the fruit surface, they germainted and produced germ tubes from one or both ends of the conidia. Germ tubes grew over the fruit surface and entered the fruits through lenticels or surface cracks formed naturally. Germ tubes of the fungus also appeared to penetrated the fruits directly with or without forming appressoria. Globose appressoria were frequently formed at the tip of germ tubes on the fruit surface, where no lenticels or surface cracks were found. The conidia collapsed and became flattened to the fruit surface after appressorial formation. Cuticles of fruit surface underneath appressoria and tips of some germ tubes were evidently altered, indicating possibility of direct penetration of the fungus by enzymatic degradation of the cuticle layers. This the first report on the formation of appressoria by B. dothidea.