title: White mold on cultivated morels caused by Paecilomyces penicillatus.
abstract: Morchella (morel) includes prized edible and medical mushrooms in the world. Since 2012, commercial cultivation of morels in the field has developed rapidly in China. However, coupled with the rapid expansion of morel cultivation, diseases have been become serious threats to morel production. White mold is one of the most serious diseases on cultivated morels. This study aimed to confirm this pathogen by following Koch's postulates, and to identify it using molecular evidence. Our results indicated that healthy Morchella fruiting bodies inoculated with Paecilomyces sp. isolates produced typical white mold symptoms, and the internal transcribed spacer sequences of the Paecilomyces sp. were 99% similar to that recovered from an epitype of Paecilomyces penicillatus. Therefore, P. penicillatus was considered to be the causative agent of white mold. White mold occurred from the initial harvest to the storage and preservation process, and it produced white mold-like symptoms on the caps and stripes of Morchella. This is the first time that white mold has been reported on cultivated Morchella.
authors.affiliation: Soil and Fertilizer Institute, Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chengdu 610066, China.|Scientific Observing and Experimental Station of Agro-microbial Resource and Utilization in Southwest China, Ministry of Agriculture, Chengdu, 610066, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Lan
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Soil and Fertilizer Institute, Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chengdu 610066, China.|Scientific Observing and Experimental Station of Agro-microbial Resource and Utilization in Southwest China, Ministry of Agriculture, Chengdu, 610066, China.
authors.forename: Wei-Hong
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: Soil and Fertilizer Institute, Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chengdu 610066, China.|Scientific Observing and Experimental Station of Agro-microbial Resource and Utilization in Southwest China, Ministry of Agriculture, Chengdu, 610066, China.
authors.forename: Ren-Yun
authors.initials: RY
authors.lastname: Miao
authors.affiliation: Soil and Fertilizer Institute, Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chengdu 610066, China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Soil and Fertilizer Institute, Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chengdu 610066, China.|Scientific Observing and Experimental Station of Agro-microbial Resource and Utilization in Southwest China, Ministry of Agriculture, Chengdu, 610066, China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Soil and Fertilizer Institute, Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chengdu 610066, China.|Scientific Observing and Experimental Station of Agro-microbial Resource and Utilization in Southwest China, Ministry of Agriculture, Chengdu, 610066, China.
authors.forename: Li-Xu
authors.initials: LX
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Soil and Fertilizer Institute, Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chengdu 610066, China.|Scientific Observing and Experimental Station of Agro-microbial Resource and Utilization in Southwest China, Ministry of Agriculture, Chengdu, 610066, China.
authors.forename: Di
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Soil and Fertilizer Institute, Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chengdu 610066, China.|Scientific Observing and Experimental Station of Agro-microbial Resource and Utilization in Southwest China, Ministry of Agriculture, Chengdu, 610066, China.
authors.forename: Bing-Cheng
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Gan
mesh_terms: D000363:Agaricales; D002681:China; D004271:DNA, Fungal; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer; D048690:Fruiting Bodies, Fungal; D010143:Paecilomyces / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D004271:DNA, Fungal; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer
keywords: China; Paecilomyces penicillatus; commercial cultivation; edible mushroom; morels; new disease