New Disease Reports (2020) 42, 24. [http://dx.doi.org/10.5197/j.2044-0588.2020.042.024]
Get pdf (1941 KB)

First report of Coleosporium montanum on Symphyotrichum in Austria and Europe

H. Voglmayr 1,2*, I. Krisai-Greilhuber 1 and T. Kirisits 2

*hermann.voglmayr@boku.ac.at

Show affiliations

Received: 24 Nov 2020; Published: 23 Dec 2020

Keywords: New England aster, obligate parasite, rust fungus, Pucciniales

North American species of the genus Symphyotrichum ('asters' or 'Michaelmas daisies') are popular, widely cultivated ornamentals, some of which have become invasive and widely naturalised in Europe, posing threats to natural ecosystems.

A rust fungus was collected in October 2017 on naturalised S. lanceolatum in Baumgarten an der March, Lower Austria (voucher specimen WU 43136 deposited in the fungarium of the University of Vienna), and in October 2020 on S. novae-angliae in a garden in St. Willibald, Upper Austria (voucher specimen WU 43601). Infected plants displayed chlorotic spots on the upper leaf surfaces and uredinia with powdery urediniospores on the lower leaf surfaces and stems (Figs. 1-3). Urediniospores were ellipsoid to oblong-ellipsoid, polyangular, verrucose, 29-34 × 19-22 µm (Fig. 4). Based on these characteristics and the hosts, the rust fungus was identified preliminarily as Coleosporium montanum (McTaggart & Aime, 2018).

To confirm the species identification, we sequenced the ITS2-LSU and the LSU regions of samples WU 43601 and WU 43136, respectively. DNA was extracted from uredinia using an innuPREP DNA Micro Kit (Analytik Jena, Germany) following the manufacturer's instructions, with a lysis time of 20 hours. The ITS2-LSU and LSU were amplified and sequenced with primer pairs RUST2inv - LR5 and Rust28SF - LR5, respectively (McTaggart & Aime, 2018 and references therein). The obtained sequences were deposited in GenBank (Accession Nos. MW284588, MW284589). An nBLAST analysis revealed 99.7-100% identity to sequences of C. montanum. In a molecular phylogenetic analysis, the collections were placed in a subclade of C. montanum composed of North American and Korean accessions from Symphyotrichum hosts (Fig. 5).

Coleosporium montanum is native to North America and has been introduced into Asia (McTaggart & Aime, 2018). To our knowledge, our records are the first for Europe, but there were a few recent Central European records from Symphyotrichum spp. that were likely misidentified as C. asterum (Scheuer, 2015; Ellis, 2020). Sequence differences between C. montanum accessions from Symphyotrichum and Solidago (Fig. 4) indicate that it may contain two host-specific cryptic species (McTaggart & Aime, 2018). So far, from Europe, only the closely related C. solidaginis has been confirmed from Solidago spp. (Beenken et al., 2017). No C. montanum teliospores were seen, but they were reported for an Austrian collection (as C. asterum) from S. lanceolatum (Scheuer, 2015). Occurrences on potential alternate hosts, 2- or 3-needled pines (Pinus spp.), are as yet unknown in Europe. As the disease was observed only late in the season, it may have a minor impact on its Symphyotrichum hosts, but may affect their ornamental horticultural value.

Figure1+
Figure 1: Rust symptoms on Symphyotrichum novae-angliae caused by Coleosporium montanum.
Figure 1: Rust symptoms on Symphyotrichum novae-angliae caused by Coleosporium montanum.
Figure2+
Figure 2: Detail of a shoot of Symphyotrichum novae-angliae with uredinia of Coleosporium montanum on leaves and stems.
Figure 2: Detail of a shoot of Symphyotrichum novae-angliae with uredinia of Coleosporium montanum on leaves and stems.
Figure3+
Figure 3: Coleosporium montanum symptoms on Symphyotrichum novae-angliae: a) uredinia on lower leaf surface, b) chlorotic spots on the upper leaf surface.
Figure 3: Coleosporium montanum symptoms on Symphyotrichum novae-angliae: a) uredinia on lower leaf surface, b) chlorotic spots on the upper leaf surface.
Figure4+
Figure 4: Verrucose urediniospores of Coleosporium montanum from Symphyotrichum novae-angliae.
Figure 4: Verrucose urediniospores of Coleosporium montanum from Symphyotrichum novae-angliae.
Figure5+
Figure 5: Phylogenetic tree obtained from a maximum-likelihood analysis of an ITS2-LSU matrix using raxmlGUI 1.3. RAxML bootstrap support values >60% are given above nodes. Taxon names are followed by host plant, origin and GenBank accession numbers; Austrian accessions of Coleosporium montanum are given in red font.
Figure 5: Phylogenetic tree obtained from a maximum-likelihood analysis of an ITS2-LSU matrix using raxmlGUI 1.3. RAxML bootstrap support values >60% are given above nodes. Taxon names are followed by host plant, origin and GenBank accession numbers; Austrian accessions of Coleosporium montanum are given in red font.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Thomas Barta for communicating specimen WU 43136. Financial support for updating the inventory of alien fungal species for Austria by the Federal Environment Agency in the Austrian Program for Rural Development 2014-2020 is gratefully acknowledged. The new record is also associated with the ABOL project.


References

  1. Beenken L, Lutz M, Scholler M, 2017. DNA barcoding and phylogenetic analyses of the genus Coleosporium (Pucciniales) reveal that the North American goldenrod rust C. solidaginis is a neomycete on introduced and native Solidago species in Europe. Mycological Progress 16, 1073-1085. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11557-017-1357-2]
  2. Ellis WN, 2020. Coleosporium asterum (Dietel) Sydow & Sydow, 1914. In: Plant Parasites of Europe - Leafminers, Galls and Fungi. https://bladmineerders.nl/parasites/fungi/basidiomycota/pucciniomycotina/pucciniales/coleosporiaceae/coleosporium/coleosporium-asterum. Accessed 24 November 2020.
  3. McTaggart AR, Aime MC, 2018. The species of Coleosporium (Pucciniales) on Solidago in North America. Fungal Biology 122, 800-809. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.funbio.2018.04.007]
  4. Scheuer C, 2015. Mycotheca Graecensis, Fasc. 25 (Nos 481-500). Fritschiana 79, 1-9.

To cite this report: Voglmayr H, Krisai-Greilhuber I, Kirisits T, 2020. First report of Coleosporium montanum on Symphyotrichum in Austria and Europe. New Disease Reports 42, 24. [http://dx.doi.org/10.5197/j.2044-0588.2020.042.024]

©2020 The Authors