Zonate Leaf Spot of Acer negundo Caused by Cristulariella moricola in Korea

Research in Plant Disease 2012;18(1):45-48.
Published online March 30, 2012.

Cristulariella moricola에 의한 네군도단풍 둥근무늬낙엽병

조성은 ( Sung Eun Cho ) , 박지현 ( Ji Hyun Park ) , 이상현 ( Sang Hyun Lee ) , 이향범 ( Hyang Burm Lee ) , 신현동 ( Hyeon Dong Shin )

Zonate Leaf Spot of Acer negundo Caused by Cristulariella moricola in Korea

Sung-Eun Cho, Ji-Hyun Park, Sang-Hyun Lee1, Hyang Burm Lee2 and Hyeon-Dong Shin*

Division of Environmental Science and Ecological Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 136-701, Korea
¹Division of Forest Diseases and Insect Pests, Korea Forest Research Institute, Seoul 130-712, Korea
²Division of Applied Bioscience and Biotechnology, Chonnam National University, Gwangju 500-757, Korea

Received: November 24, 2011 Revised: February 19, 2012 Accepted: March 09, 2012

Abstract

In early August of 2011, following a prolonged period of cool and moist weather, several trees of boxelder maple (Acer negundo) planted in Mt. Soyo located in Dongducheon, Korea, were found to be heavily damaged by premature defoliation with zonate leaf spot symptoms. Numerous number of cone-shaped, white sporophores (conidia) were observed on lesions of the abaxial leaf surface. The morphological characteristics of conidia are of typical Cristulariella moricola, which was supported by analyzing sequences of internal transcribed spacer region of ribosomal DNA. Pathogenicity of the fungus was proved by artificial inoculation in the condition of relative humidity 100% and 18 ± 2^oC. This is the first report of the occurrence of zonate leaf spot caused by infection of C. moricola on A. negundo in Korea.

Key Words: Acer negundo, Boxelder maple, Cristulariella moricola, C. pyramidalis, Zonate Leaf spot