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Title: Phylogeny and redescription of Dolabra nepheliae on rambutan and litchi

Author
item Rossman, Amy
item Farr, David
item SCHOCH, CONRAD - OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
item Nishijima, Kate
item Keith, Lisa
item Goenaga, Ricardo

Submitted to: Mycoscience
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/19/2010
Publication Date: 4/6/2010
Citation: Rossman, A.Y., Farr, D.F., Schoch, C., Nishijima, K.A., Keith, L.M., Goenaga Portela, R.J. 2010. Phylogeny and redescription of Dolabra nepheliae on rambutan and litchi. Mycoscience. 51:300-309.

Interpretive Summary: Fungi are a large and diverse group of organisms that cause serious diseases of crop and forest plants. Accurate knowledge of fungi is critical for controlling the diseases they cause. Rambutan and lychee are tropical plants that produce delicious edible fruits. A little known fungus causes a canker disease of rambutan and lychee in Hawaii and Puerto Rico known as corky bark disease. In this research the fungus causing this disease is described and illustrated. Its relationship to other disease-causing fungi was also determined. This research will help plant pathologists to accurately identify the cause of this disease of specialty crops. Knowledge of this fungus will be useful to plant regulatory officials working to control the spread of this disease.

Technical Abstract: Rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum L.) and lychee (Litchi chinensis Sonn.) are tropical trees in the Sapindaceae that produce delicious edible fruits and are increasingly cultivated in tropical areas. Recently these trees have been afflicted with a stem canker disease caused by the ascomycete Dolabra nepheliae C. Booth & Ting. Several isolates of this species were obtained from Hawaii and Puerto Rico. The large subunit of the nuclear ribosomal DNA was sequenced for these isolates and compared with other sequences of ascomycetes. Dolabra nepheliae was determined to be a member of the Pleosporaceae, Pleosporales, Dothideomycetes. Analysis of the ITS sequences for members of the Pleosporaceae was used to determine the unique position of Dolabra within that family. A redescription and illustrations of the sexual and asexual state of Dolabra nepheliae are presented.