Characterization of adaptability components of Brazilian isolates of Macrophomina pseudophaseolina

"This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Negreiros, Andréia Mitsa Paiva, Naama Jéssica de Assis Melo, Hohana Lissa de Sousa Medeiros, Fernando Henrique Alves Silva, Josep Armengol, and Rui Sales Júnior. 2020. "Characterization of Adaptability Components of Brazilian Isolates of Macrophomina Pseudophaseolina". Journal of Phytopathology 168 (7-8). Wiley: 490-99. doi:10.1111/jph.12927. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving."[EN] Macrophomina pseudophaseolina is a new Macrophomina species reported on different crop and weed species in Brazil, India and Senegal, but to date there are no studies about its adaptability components. In this work, a collection of 62 M. pseudophaseolina isolates obtained from roots of the weed species Trianthema portulacastrum and Boerhavia diffusa collected in Northeastern Brazil, was used to: (a) study the effect of temperature and salinity on mycelial growth, (b) to determine their sensitivity to the fungicide carbendazim and (c) to assess their aggressiveness on melon and watermelon seedlings. Results showed variability among M. pseudophaseolina isolates. The optimum temperature for mycelial growth ranged between 26.4 and 38.1oC. NaCl reduced the in vitro growth of all isolates, which were also highly sensitive to the fungicide carbendazim, exhibiting EC50 values ranging from 0.013 to 0.089 mg/L a.i. Disease severity values on melon and watermelon seedlings showed that M. pseudophaseolina isolates were more aggressive in melon than in watermelon. Information about adaptability components of M. pseudophaseolina obtained in this study could be incorporated on breeding programs for melon and watermelon crops.This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brazil (CAPES) - Finance Code 001 and by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq).Paiva Negreiros, AM.; Melo, N.; De Soussa Medeiros, H.; Alves Silva, F.; Armengol Fortí, J.; Sales Junior, R. (2020). Characterization of adaptability components of Brazilian isolates of Macrophomina pseudophaseolina. Journal of Phytopathology. 168(7-8):490-499. https://doi.org/10.1111/jph.12927S4904991687-8Ambrósio, M. M. Q., Dantas, A. C. A., Martínez-Perez, E., Medeiros, A. C., Nunes, G. H. S., & Picó, M. B. (2015). Screening a variable germplasm collection of Cucumis melo L. for seedling resistance to Macrophomina phaseolina. Euphytica, 206(2), 287-300. doi:10.1007/s10681-015-1452-xBrito, A. C. de Q., de Mello, J. F., Michereff, S. J., de Souza-Motta, C. M., & Machado, A. R. (2019). First report of Macrophomina pseudophaseolina causing stem dry rot in cassava in Brazil. Journal of Plant Pathology, 101(4), 1245-1245. doi:10.1007/s42161-019-00309-3Cervantes-Garcia, D., Saul Padilla-Ramirez, J., Simpson, J., & Mayek-Perez, N. (2003). Osmotic Potential Effects on In Vitro Growth, Morphology and Pathogenicity of Macrophomina phaseolina. Journal of Phytopathology, 151(7-8), 456-462. doi:10.1046/j.1439-0434.2003.00751.xFerreira, D. F. (2011). Sisvar: a computer statistical analysis system. Ciência e Agrotecnologia, 35(6), 1039-1042. doi:10.1590/s1413-70542011000600001Gupta, G. K., Sharma, S. K., & Ramteke, R. (2012). Biology, Epidemiology and Management of the Pathogenic Fungus Macrophomina phaseolina (Tassi) Goid with Special Reference to Charcoal Rot of Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merrill). Journal of Phytopathology, 160(4), 167-180. doi:10.1111/j.1439-0434.2012.01884.xLannou, C. (2012). Variation and Selection of Quantitative Traits in Plant Pathogens. Annual Review of Phytopathology, 50(1), 319-338. doi:10.1146/annurev-phyto-081211-173031Machado, A. R., Pinho, D. B., Soares, D. J., Gomes, A. A. M., & Pereira, O. L. (2018). Bayesian analyses of five gene regions reveal a new phylogenetic species of Macrophomina associated with charcoal rot on oilseed crops in Brazil. European Journal of Plant Pathology, 153(1), 89-100. doi:10.1007/s10658-018-1545-1Mastan, A., Bharadwaj, R., Kushwaha, R. K., & Vivek Babu, C. S. (2019). Functional Fungal Endophytes in Coleus forskohlii Regulate Labdane Diterpene Biosynthesis for Elevated Forskolin Accumulation in Roots. Microbial Ecology, 78(4), 914-926. doi:10.1007/s00248-019-01376-wMedeiros, A. C., Melo, D. R. M. de, Ambrósio, M. M. de Q., Nunes, G. H. de S., & Costa, J. M. da. (2015). Métodos de inoculação de Rhizoctonia solani e Macrophomina phaseolina em meloeiro (Cucumis melo). Summa Phytopathologica, 41(4), 281-286. doi:10.1590/0100-5405/2083Mbaye, N., Mame, P. S., Ndiaga, C., & Ibrahima, N. (2015). Is the recently described Macrophomina pseudophaseolina pathogenically different from Macrophomina phaseolina? African Journal of Microbiology Research, 9(45), 2232-2238. doi:10.5897/ajmr2015.7742Negreiros, A. M. P., Sales Júnior, R., León, M., Melo, N. J., Michereff, S. J., Ambrósio, M. M., … Armengol, J. (2019). Identification and pathogenicity of Macrophomina species collected from weeds in melon fields in Northeastern Brazil. Journal of Phytopathology, 167(6), 326-337. doi:10.1111/jph.12801Francisco, de A. S. e S., & Carlos, A. V. de A. (2016). The Assistat Software Version 7.7 and its use in the analysis of experimental data. African Journal of Agricultural Research, 11(39), 3733-3740. doi:10.5897/ajar2016.11522Tonin, R. F. B., Avozani, A., Danelli, A. L. D., Reis, E. M., Zoldan, S. M., & Garcés-Fiallos, F. R. (2013). In vitro mycelial sensitivity of Macrophomina phaseolina to fungicides. Pesquisa Agropecuária Tropical, 43(4), 460-466. doi:10.1590/s1983-40632013000400014Wrather, J. A., Anderson, T. R., Arsyad, D. M., Tan, Y., Ploper, L. D., Porta-Puglia, A., … Yorinori, J. T. (2001). Soybean disease loss estimates for the top ten soybean-producing counries in 1998. Canadian Journal of Plant Pathology, 23(2), 115-121. doi:10.1080/07060660109506918Zhan, J., & McDonald, B. A. (2013). Experimental Measures of Pathogen Competition and Relative Fitness. Annual Review of Phytopathology, 51(1), 131-153. doi:10.1146/annurev-phyto-082712-102302Zhao, L., Cai, J., He, W., & Zhang, Y. (2019). Macrophomina vaccinii sp. nov. causing blueberry stem blight in China. MycoKeys, 55, 1-14. doi:10.3897/mycokeys.55.3501

The in-plane paraconductivity in La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_4 thin film superconductors at high reduced-temperatures: Independence of the normal-state pseudogap

The in-plane resistivity has been measured in $La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_4$ (LSxCO) superconducting thin films of underdoped ($x=0.10,0.12$), optimally-doped ($x=0.15$) and overdoped ($x=0.20,0.25$) compositions. These films were grown on (100)SrTiO$_3$ substrates, and have about 150 nm thickness. The in-plane conductivity induced by superconducting fluctuations above the superconducting transition (the so-called in-plane paraconductivity, $\Delta\sigma_{ab}$) was extracted from these data in the reduced-temperature range 10^{-2}\lsim\epsilon\equiv\ln(T/\Tc)\lsim1. Such a $\Delta\sigma_{ab}(\epsilon)$ was then analyzed in terms of the mean-field--like Gaussian-Ginzburg-Landau (GGL) approach extended to the high-$\epsilon$ region by means of the introduction of a total-energy cutoff, which takes into account both the kinetic energy and the quantum localization energy of each fluctuating mode. Our results strongly suggest that at all temperatures above Tc, including the high reduced-temperature region, the doping mainly affects in LSxCO thin films the normal-state properties and that its influence on the superconducting fluctuations is relatively moderate: Even in the high-$\epsilon$ region, the in-plane paraconductivity is found to be independent of the opening of a pseudogap in the normal state of the underdoped films.Comment: 35 pages including 10 figures and 1 tabl

Phyllosticta citricarpa and sister species of global importance to Citrus.

Several Phyllosticta species are known as pathogens of Citrus spp., and are responsible for various disease symptoms including leaf and fruit spots. One of the most important species is P. citricarpa, which causes a foliar and fruit disease called citrus black spot. The Phyllosticta species occurring on citrus can most effectively be distinguished from P. citricarpa by means of multilocus DNA sequence data. Recent studies also demonstrated P. citricarpa to be heterothallic, and reported successful mating in the laboratory. Since the domestication of citrus, different clones of P. citricarpa have escaped Asia to other continents via trade routes, with obvious disease management consequences. This pathogen profile represents a comprehensive literature review of this pathogen and allied taxa associated with citrus, focusing on identification, distribution, genomics, epidemiology and disease management. This review also considers the knowledge emerging from seven genomes of Phyllosticta spp., demonstrating unknown aspects of these species, including their mating behaviour.TaxonomyPhyllosticta citricarpa (McAlpine) Aa, 1973. Kingdom Fungi, Phylum Ascomycota, Class Dothideomycetes, Order Botryosphaeriales, Family Phyllostictaceae, Genus Phyllosticta, Species citricarpa.Host rangeConfirmed on more than 12 Citrus species, Phyllosticta citricarpa has only been found on plant species in the Rutaceae.Disease symptomsP. citricarpa causes diverse symptoms such as hard spot, virulent spot, false melanose and freckle spot on fruit, and necrotic lesions on leaves and twigs.Useful websitesDOE Joint Genome Institute MycoCosm portals for the Phyllosticta capitalensis (https://genome.jgi.doe.gov/Phycap1), P. citriasiana (https://genome.jgi.doe.gov/Phycit1), P. citribraziliensis (https://genome.jgi.doe.gov/Phcit1), P. citrichinaensis (https://genome.jgi.doe.gov/Phcitr1), P. citricarpa (https://genome.jgi.doe.gov/Phycitr1, https://genome.jgi.doe.gov/Phycpc1), P. paracitricarpa (https://genome.jgi.doe.gov/Phy27169) genomes. All available Phyllosticta genomes on MycoCosm can be viewed at https://genome.jgi.doe.gov/Phyllosticta

Beyond trees: Mapping total aboveground biomass density in the Brazilian savanna using high-density UAV-lidar data

Tropical savanna ecosystems play a major role in the seasonality of the global carbon cycle. However, their ability to store and sequester carbon is uncertain due to combined and intermingling effects of anthropogenic activities and climate change, which impact wildfire regimes and vegetation dynamics. Accurate measurements of tropical savanna vegetation aboveground biomass (AGB) over broad spatial scales are crucial to achieve effective carbon emission mitigation strategies. UAV-lidar is a new remote sensing technology that can enable rapid 3-D mapping of structure and related AGB in tropical savanna ecosystems. This study aimed to assess the capability of high-density UAV-lidar to estimate and map total (tree, shrubs, and surface layers) aboveground biomass density (AGBt) in the Brazilian Savanna (Cerrado). Five ordinary least square regression models esti-mating AGBt were adjusted using 50 field sample plots (30 m × 30 m). The best model was selected under Akaike Information Criterion, adjusted coefficient of determination (adj.R2), absolute and relative root mean square error (RMSE), and used to map AGBt from UAV-lidar data collected over 1,854 ha spanning the three major vegetation formations (forest, savanna, and grassland) in Cerrado. The model using vegetation height and cover was the most effective, with an overall model adj-R2 of 0.79 and a leave-one-out cross-validated RMSE of 19.11 Mg/ha (33.40%). The uncertainty and errors of our estimations were assessed for each vegetation formation separately, resulting in RMSEs of 27.08 Mg/ha (25.99%) for forests, 17.76 Mg/ha (43.96%) for savannas, and 7.72 Mg/ha (44.92%) for grasslands. These results prove the feasibility and potential of the UAV-lidar technology in Cerrado but also emphasize the need for further developing the estimation of biomass in grasslands, of high importance in the characterization of the global carbon balance and for supporting integrated fire management activities in tropical savanna ecosystems. Our results serve as a benchmark for future studies aiming to generate accurate biomass maps and provide baseline data for efficient management of fire and predicted climate change impacts on tropical savanna ecosystems

Abundances of the elements in the solar system

A review of the abundances and condensation temperatures of the elements and their nuclides in the solar nebula and in chondritic meteorites. Abundances of the elements in some neighboring stars are also discussed.Comment: 42 pages, 11 tables, 8 figures, chapter, In Landolt- B\"ornstein, New Series, Vol. VI/4B, Chap. 4.4, J.E. Tr\"umper (ed.), Berlin, Heidelberg, New York: Springer-Verlag, p. 560-63

Development of envelope protein antigens to serologically differentiate zika virus infection from dengue virus infection

Zika virus (ZIKV) is an emerging flavivirus that can cause birth defects and neurologic complications. Molecular tests are effective for diagnosing acute ZIKV infection, although the majority of infections produce no symptoms at all or present after the narrow window in which molecular diagnostics are dependable. Serology is a reliable method for detecting infections after the viremic period; however, most serological assays have limited specificity due to cross-reactive antibodies elicited by flavivirus infections. Since ZIKV and dengue virus (DENV) widely cocirculate, distinguishing ZIKV infection from DENV infection is particularly important for diagnosing individual cases or for surveillance to coordinate public health responses. Flaviviruses also elicit type-specific antibodies directed to non-cross-reactive epitopes of the infecting virus; such epitopes are attractive targets for the design of antigens for development of serological tests with greater specificity. Guided by comparative epitope modeling of the ZIKV envelope protein, we designed two recombinant antigens displaying unique antigenic regions on domain I (Z-EDI) and domain III (Z-EDIII) of the ZIKV envelope protein. Both the Z-EDI and Z-EDIII antigens consistently detected ZIKV-specific IgG in ZIKV-immune sera but not cross-reactive IgG in DENV-immune sera in late convalescence (12 weeks postinfection). In contrast, during early convalescence (2 to 12 weeks postinfection), secondary DENV-immune sera and some primary DENV-immune sera cross-reacted with the Z-EDI and Z-EDIII antigens. Analysis of sequential samples from DENV-immune individuals demonstrated that Z-EDIII cross-reactivity peaked in early convalescence and declined steeply over time. The Z-EDIII antigen has much potential as a diagnostic antigen for population-level surveillance and for detecting past infections in patients