• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.231-237
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• 2010

The heat-inactivated (at $121^{\circ}C$ for 20 min) conidial suspension of Bipolaris cactivora (HICS) was evaluated for the control of Bipolaris stem rot of cactus caused by B. cactivora. Severe rot symptoms were developed on the cactus stem discs inoculated with B. cactivora from 5 days after inoculation. However, only small brownish spots developed on the stem discs treated with HICS 2 days prior to the pathogen inoculation. HICS also reduced symptom development on cactus stem discs inoculated with other fungal pathogens such as Alternaria alternata, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, and Fusarium oxysporum, suggesting its disease-inhibitory efficacy may not be pathogen-specific. HICS significantly reduced severities of the stem rot disease on several cactus species including Hylocereus trigonus, Cereus peruvianus, Chamaecereus silvestrii and Gymnocalycium mianovichii, but not on Cereus tetragonus. Extensive wound periderms were formed in the stem tissues of inoculation and/or wounding sites on C. peruvianus treated with HICS alone or prior to the pathogen inoculation, but not on C. tetragonus, indicating the structural modifications may be related to the mechanism of disease suppression by HICS. HICS also reduced the disease development on the grafted cactus (H. trigonus stock and G. mianovichii scion) with the control efficacy nearly equivalent to the application of a commercial fungicide. All of these results suggest HICS can be used as an environmental-friendly agent for the control of the cactus stem disease.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.446-450
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• 2013

The ascomycete fungus Fusarium graminearum is a major causal agent for Fusarium head blight in cereals and produces mycotoxins such as trichothecenes and zearalenone. Isolation of the fungal strains from air or cereals can be hampered by various other airborne fungal pathogens and saprophytic fungi. In this study, we developed a selective medium specific to F. graminearum using toxoflavin produced by the bacterial pathogen Burkholderia glumae. F. graminearum was resistant to toxoflavin, while other fungi were sensitive to this toxin. Supplementing toxoflavin into medium enhanced the isolation of F. graminearum from rice grains by suppressing the growth of saprophytic fungal species. In addition, a medium with or without toxoflavin exposed to wheat fields for 1 h had 84% or 25%, respectively, of colonies identified as F. graminearum. This selection medium provides an efficient tool for isolating F. graminearum, and can be adopted by research groups working on genetics and disease forecasting.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.179-184
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• 2020

A leaf spot pathogen Alternaria sp. was recovered from jimson weed, tomato, parsley, and coriander collected during surveys of blight diseases on Solanaceae and Apiaceae in Algeria. This species produced large conidial body generating long apical beaks that tapered gradually from a wide base to a narrow tip and short conidiophores originating directly from the agar surface. This species exhibited morphological traits similar to that reported for Alternaria crassa. The identification of seven strains from different hosts was confirmed by sequence analyses at the glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, RNA polymerase second largest subunit, and translation elongation factor 1-alpha loci. Further the pathogen was evaluated on jimson weed, coriander, parsley, and tomato plants, and this fungus was able to cause necrotic lesions on all inoculated plants. A. crassa is reported for the first time as a new species of the Algerian mycoflora and as a new potential pathogen for cultivated hosts.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.99-101
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• 2011

The ascomycetous fungus Taphrina wiesneri, the pathogen of cherry witches' broom, is highly pathogenic to Prunus yedoensis, the most widely planted cherry trees in Korea as park and roadside trees. A collection of 13 strains of the pathogen in Korea and Japan was characterized by 18S rDNA gene sequence and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis. In cluster analysis based on 18S rDNA gene sequence the strains were divided into 2 clusters. In RFLP analysis of the rDNA-IGS region using HhaI, the strains were separated into four patterns, B, C, D and G, of which pattern G was new.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.294-300
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• 2003

Bacterial strains were isolated from diseased samples of shoot blight collected from different pear growing orchards of Chuncheon, Korea from 1995 to 1998. Forty-nine strains showed their pathogenicity on immature fruit and shoot of pear. Microbiological, physiological, and biochemical tests were performed on these pathogenic strains. One strain, designated as WT3 in this study, was selected as a representative strain as it was collected from the first outbreak area in Jichonri, Chuncheon in 1995. Further detailed characterization of the strain WT3 was done by PCR amplification using specific primers described previously for distinguishing Erwinia pyrifoliae from its close pathogen Erwinia amylovora. Based on phenotypical, biochemical, and molecular analyses, strain WT3 was identified as a shoot blight pathogen which was the same as E. pyrifoliae Ep16 previously described by a German group in 1999.

• Mycobiology
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.93-98
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• 2016

A new leaf spot disease was observed on leaves of Rheum palmatum (Chinese rhubarb) in Northwest China (Gansu Province) starting in 2005. A Septoria-like fungus was isolated and completion of Koch's postulates confirmed that the fungus was the casual agent of the leaf spot disease. Morphology and molecular methods were combined to identify the pathogen. The fungus produced conidiomata pycnidia and the conidia were 2~5 septate, $61.2{\sim}134.1{\mu}m$ in length and $3.53{\sim}5.3{\mu}m$ in width, which is much larger than the known Spetoria species that infects Polygonaceae species. Phylogenic analysis of the internal transcribed spacer region confirmed that this Septoria-like fungus is within the Septoria genus but distinct from known Septoria species. Together, these morphological and phylogenetic data support that the R. palmatum infecting Septoria strain is a newly-described plant pathogenic species.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2019

Wheat blast occurred in Bangladesh for the first time in Asia in 2016. It is caused by a fungal pathogen, Magnaporthe oryzae Triticum (MoT) pathotype. In this review, we focused on the current status of the wheat blast in regard to host, pathogen, and environment. Despite the many efforts to control the disease, it expanded to neighboring regions including India, the world's second largest wheat producer. However, the disease occurrence has definitely decreased in quantity, because of many farmers chose to grow alternate crops according to the government's directions. Bangladesh government planned to introduce blast resistant cultivars but knowledges about genetics of resistance is limited. The genome analyses of the pathogen population revealed that the isolates caused wheat blast in Bangladesh are genetically close to a South American lineage of Magnaporthe oryzae. Understanding the genomes of virulent strains would be important to find target resistance genes for wheat breeding. Although the drier winter weather in Bangladesh was not favorable for development of wheat blast before, recent global warming and climate change are posing an increasing risk of disease development. Bangladesh outbreak in 2016 was likely to be facilitated by an extraordinary warm and humid weather in the affected districts before the harvest season. Coordinated international collaboration and steady financial supports are needed to mitigate the fearsome wheat blast in South Asia before it becomes a catastrophe.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.530-537
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• 2019

Fuji, a major apple cultivar in Korea, is susceptible to white rot. Apple white rot disease appears on the stem and fruit; the development of which deteriorates fruit quality, resulting in decreases in farmers' income. Thus, it is necessary to characterize molecular markers related to apple white rot resistance. In this study, we screened for differentially expressed genes between uninfected apple fruits and those infected with Botryosphaeria dothidea, the fungal pathogen that causes white rot. Antimicrobial tests suggest that a gene expression involved in the synthesis of the substance inhibiting the growth of B. dothidea in apples was induced by pathogen infection. We identified seven transcripts induced by the infection. The seven transcripts were homologous to genes encoding a flavonoid glucosyltransferase, a metallothionein-like protein, a senescence-induced protein, a chitinase, a wound-induced protein, and proteins of unknown function. These genes have functions related to responses to environmental stresses, including pathogen infections. Our results can be useful for the development of molecular markers for early detection of the disease or for use in breeding white rotresistant cultivars.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.227-234
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• 2011

The hrp gene cluster in the plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae is a key determinant of pathogenicity. Recent studies have demonstrated that specific host cell induction of the Ralstonia solanacearum hrp gene cluster is controlled by the PrhA (plant regulator of hrp) receptor. To characterize the role that P. syringae PrhA plays in the virulence of plant cells, a prhA homolog was isolated from P. syringae pv. tabaci and a $\Delta$prhA mutant was constructed by allelic exchange. The $\Delta$prhA mutant had reduced virulence in the host plant, and co-culture of P. syringae pv. tabaci and plant cell suspensions induced a much higher level of hrpA gene transcription than culture in hrp-inducing minimal medium. These results indicate that PrhA of P. syringae is a putative pathogen-plant cell contact sensor, therefore, we used a hrpA-gfp reporter fusion to monitor the in situ expression of PrhA. The results of this study demonstrated that PrhA induces hrp gene expression in P. syringae pv. tabaci in the presence of plant cells.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.183-190
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• 2008

Plant-cell-wall-degrading enzymes (PCWDEs) of Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. carotovorum are the key virulence factor in pathogenesis of soft rot disease of vegetables. The production of PCWDEs is controlled in a cell density dependent manner to avoid the premature production of PCWDEs and subsequent activation of plant defense. N-oxoacyl-homoserine lactone (OHL) is essential for quorum sensing in the soft rot pathogen and the expI gene is responsible for OHL production. The ExpI homolog isolated from P. carotovorum subsp. carotovorum SL940 had 94% identity with ExpI of E. carotovora subsp. carotovora scc3193 and 74% identity with Carl of E. carotovora subsp. atroseptica. The transgenic plants that express exp I uner the control of CaMV35S promoter were able to produce diffusible OHL. Transgenic plants producing OHL were very resistant to the infection of P. carotovorum subsp. carotovorum. Since the PR1 gene was strongly induced and NPR1 and NPR4 were induced weakly in transgenic plants compared to the wild type, salicylic acid-dependent pathways is likely involved in the resistance to the soft rot pathogen P. carotovorum subsp. carotovorum in ExpI transgenic plants.