title: Septoria-like pathogens causing leaf and fruit spot of pistachio.
abstract: Several species of Septoria are associated with leaf and fruit spot of pistachio (Pistacia vera), though their identity has always been confused, making identification problematic. The present study elucidates the taxonomy of the Septoria spp. associated with pistachio, and distinguishes four species associated with this host genus. Partial nucleotide sequence data for five gene loci, ITS, LSU, EF-1α, RPB2 and Btub were generated for a subset of isolates. Cylindroseptoria pistaciae, which is associated with leaf spots of Pistacia lentiscus in Spain, is characterised by pycnidial conidiomata that give rise to cylindrical, aseptate conidia. Two species of Septoria s. str. are also recognised on pistachio, S. pistaciarum, and S. pistaciae. The latter is part of the S. protearum species complex, and appears to be a wide host range pathogen occurring on hosts in several different plant families. Septoria pistacina, a major pathogen of pistachio in Turkey, is shown to belong to Pseudocercospora, and not Septoria as earlier suspected. Other than for its pycnidial conidiomata, it is a typical species of Pseudocercospora based on its smooth, pigmented conidiogenous cells and septate conidia. This phenomenon has also been observed in Pallidocercospora, and seriously questions the value of conidiomatal structure at generic level, which has traditionally been used to separate hyphomycetous from coelomycetous ascomycetes. Other than DNA barcodes to facilitate the molecular identification of these taxa occurring on pistachio, a key is also provided to distinguish species based on morphology.
authors.affiliation: CBS-KNAW Fungal Biodiversity Centre, Uppsalalaan 8, 3584 CT Utrecht, The Netherlands; ; Microbiology, Department of Biology, Utrecht University, Padualaan 8, 3584 CH Utrecht, The Netherlands ; Wageningen University and Research Centre (WUR), Laboratory of Phytopathology, Droevendaalsesteeg 1, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Pedro W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Crous
authors.affiliation: CBS-KNAW Fungal Biodiversity Centre, Uppsalalaan 8, 3584 CT Utrecht, The Netherlands; ; Microbiology, Department of Biology, Utrecht University, Padualaan 8, 3584 CH Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Quaedvlieg
authors.affiliation: Pistachio Research Station, Üniversite Bulvari 27060 Şahinbey/Gaziantep, Turkey.
authors.forename: Kamil
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sarpkaya
authors.affiliation: Gaziantep University, Faculty of Art and Science, Department of Biology, Gaziantep, Turkey.
authors.forename: Canan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Can
authors.affiliation: Cukurova University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Plant Protection, Adana, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Erkılıç
keywords: Capnodiales; ITS; LSU; Mycosphaerellaceae; Pistachia; Pseudocercospora; RPB2; Septoria; coelomycete; hyphomycete; systematics