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Title: First report of anther smut caused by Microbotryum violaceum on forked catchfly in Turkey

Author
item Berner, Dana
item TUNALI, BERNA - ONDOKUZ MAYIS UNIV.TURKEY

Submitted to: Plant Disease
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/5/2007
Publication Date: 2/1/2008
Citation: Berner, D.K., Tunali, B. 2008. First report of anther smut caused by Microbotryum violaceum on forked catchfly in Turkey. Plant Disease. 92:315.

Interpretive Summary: The smut fungus Microbotryum violaceum.is an obligate parasite of many plant species in the Caryophyllaceae family and has been widely studied as a model for population genetics and evolutionary biology. In May, 2007 the fungus was found parasitizing forked catchfly plants in Samsun, Turkey. To our knowledge, this is the first report of M. violaceum parasitizing forked catchfly in Turkey and is the eastern-most reported occurrence of this fungus-plant interaction in the world.

Technical Abstract: Forked catchfly (Silene dichotoma Ehrh.), family Caryophyllaceae, is a common and native plant in rangelands and pastures in Turkey. It is also an introduced plant that is widely distributed in North America. In May, 2007 about 20 forked catchfly plants on the campus of Ondokuz Mayis University, in Samsun, Turkey, were found diseased with the anther-smut fungus Microbotryum violaceum. All anthers in all flowers of diseased plants were smutted. Diseased flowers were collected, air-dried, and sent to the quarantine facility of the Foreign Disease-Weed Science Research Unit (FDWSRU), USDA/ARS, Fort Detrick, MD. Teliospores within the flowers were extracted and observed microscopically. Teliospores were globose, 6-9 µm (mean 6.5 µm) diameter, pale violet, with reticulate walls, matching the description of M. violaceum. This fungus is an obligate parasite of many plant species in the Caryophyllaceae family and has been widely studied as a model for population genetics and evolutionary biology. To our knowledge, this is the first report of M. violaceum parasitizing forked catchfly in Turkey and is the eastern-most reported occurrence of this fungus-plant interaction in the world.