Synthesis and fungicidal activity of ethaboxam against Oomycetes

This study describes the chemical synthesis and intrinsic fungicidal activity of ethaboxam [(RS)-N-(alpha-cyano-2-thenyl)-4-ethyl-2-(ethylamino)-1,3-thiazole-5-carboxamide], a new Oomycetes fungicide. In in vitro tests, ethaboxam showed inhibitory activity against isolates of Phytophthora and some Pythium spp, with MIC values ranging from 0.1 to 0.5 mg litre(-1) for nine isolates of Phytophthora infestans (Montagne) de Bary and from 1.0 to 5.0 mg litre(-1) for eight isolates of Phytophthora capsici Leonian. In tests to determine time and concentration for complete inactivation of each pathogen (five isolates of P infestans and five isolates of P capsici), ethaboxam inactivated all isolates of P infestans within 48h at 10 mg litre(-1) and those of P capsici within 96 h at 10 mg litre(-1). Ethaboxam effectively suppressed development of tomato late blight caused by P infestans and pepper Phytophthora blight caused by P capsici in the studies conducted to determine its preventive, curative, persistent and systemic activity. These results show that ethaboxam has desirable fungicidal characteristics as an Oomycetes fungicide.     

A Novel Population of Phytophthora, Similar to P. infestans, Attacks Wild Solanum Species in Ecuador

ABSTRACT Twenty-six isolates of a Phytophthora population from two wild solanaceous species, Solanum tetrapetalum (n 11) and S. brevifolium (n = 15), were characterized morphologically, with genetic and phenotypic markers, and for pathogenicity on potato and tomato. Based on morphology, ribosomal internal transcribed spacer region 2 (ITS2) sequence, and pathogenicity, all isolates closely resembled P. infestans and were tentatively placed in that species. Nonetheless, this population of Phytophthora is novel. Its primary host is neither potato nor tomato, and all isolates had three restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) bands (probe RG57) and a mitochondrial DNA haplotype that have not been reported for P. infestans. All the isolates were the A2 mating type when tested with a P. infestans A1 isolate. The A2 mating type has not been found among isolates of P. infestans from potato or tomato in Ecuador. Geographical substructing of the Ecuadorian A2 population was detected. The three isolates from the village of Nono, identical to the others in all other aspects, differed by three RFLP bands; those from Nono lacked bands 10 and 16, but possessed band 19. Most of the Ecuadorian A2 isolates were nonpathogenic on potato and tomato, but a few caused very small lesions with sparse sporulation on necrotic tissue. Cluster analysis of multilocus genotypes (RFLP, mating type, and two allozymes) dissociated this A2 population from genotypes representing clonally propagated populations of P. infestans worldwide. The current hypotheses for the historical global movements of P. infestans do not satisfactorily explain the origin or possible time of introduction into Ecuador of this A2 population. Assuming the population is P. infestans, its presence in Ecuador suggests either a hitherto unreported migration of the pathogen or an indigenous population that had not previously been detected.     

Selection for Fungicide Resistance Within a Growing Season in Field Populations of Phytophthora infestans at the Center of Origin

ABSTRACT The central highlands of Mexico should provide an optimal testing ground for evaluating the potential threat of selection for resistance to fungicides in the population of Phytophthora infestans. We evaluated the hypotheses that exposure to the fungicides azoxystrobin, cymoxanil, dimethomorph, fluazinam, mancozeb, metalaxyl, and propamocarb hydrochloride would lead to (i) a shift in the sensitivity distributions (i.e., selection) and (ii) a lower genotypic diversity of the population. We compared populations from unsprayed plots with populations that had been exposed to several applications of each of the fungicides within a single field season. This study provides novel baseline data and shows that the Toluca valley P. infestans population has a wide range of sensitivities to the fungicides fluazinam, cymoxanil, dimethomorph, metalaxyl, and propamocarb. Directional selection toward resistance combined with a reduction in genetic diversity of the P. infestans population was observed only for the fungicide metalaxyl. The results obtained provide direct experimental support for continuing vigilance regarding further introductions of exotic strains of P. infestans into the United States.     

马铃薯晚疫病菌分子遗传及与寄主互作研究

近年来马铃薯晚疫病的重新暴发再次引起世界各国极大关注,特别对马铃薯晚疫病菌的分子遗传学的研究,包括病菌基因组遗传、转录和物理图谱的构建,病菌致病的分子机制以及马铃薯-马铃薯晚疫病菌互作分子机制等。本文就近几十年来对马铃薯晚疫病菌在生物学和病理学,分子遗传学等研究方面作简要综述,并对其研究趋势进行了展望。     

Loss of Production of the Elicitor Protein INF1 in the Clonal Lineage US-1 of Phytophthora infestans

ABSTRACT The extracellular protein INF1 of Phytophthora infestans is a member of the elicitin family of protein elicitors known to induce a hypersensitive response on some solanaceous and cruciferous plants. The presence of INF1 elicitin in culture filtrates of 102 P. infestans isolates from 15 countries was examined. All tested isolates produced INF1 except five isolates collected in 1976 and 1977 from infected potatoes in East Germany (the former German Democratic Republic). Based on hybridization to the multi-locus DNA fingerprint probe RG57, all the INF1-nonproducing isolates were shown to belong to the clonal lineage US-1 that dominated world populations until the 1980s. Phylogenetic analysis of a set of European US-1 isolates using amplified fragment length polymorphism fingerprint data indicated that loss of INF1 production evolved independently in separate lineages within US-1. DNA and RNA blot hybridizations showed that INF1-nonproducing isolates still retain a copy of the inf1 gene, whereas little inf1 mRNA could be detected. Hypothetical interpretations of the evolution in a restricted geographic area of P. infestans lineages deficient in the production of a specific elicitor protein are discussed.     

马铃薯与致病疫霉互作研究进展与展望

马铃薯是重要的粮食作物, 由致病疫霉侵染引发的晚疫病长期严重制约马铃薯产业的健康发展, 因此, 国内外均将马铃薯晚疫病列为重大病害。目前, 抗病品种选育栽培、晚疫病预测预报和化学防治等相结合的晚疫病综合防治手段已得到普遍推广, 但晚疫病局部大流行在全世界范围内仍时有发生, 给粮食安全和生态安全带来巨大挑战。本文回顾了我国晚疫病的部分研究历史, 集中关注致病疫霉与寄主的互作机制领域, 梳理了近年来关于致病疫霉侵入机理、效应蛋白毒力功能、病原菌变异规律、马铃薯抗病机理等方面的重要研究结果并展望未来主要的研究方向, 以期为晚疫病基础研究和防治技术革新提供参考。     

Novel microsatellite markers for the analysis of Phytophthora infestans populations

Co-dominant microsatellite molecular markers for Phytophthora infestans were developed and their potential for monitoring the genetic variation in populations was demonstrated in the UK, across Europe and worldwide. Markers were developed according to two strategies. First, several thousand P. infestans expressed sequence tag (EST) and bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) sequences were screened for the presence of simple sequence repeat (SSR) motifs, and, of these, 100 candidate loci were selected for further investigation. Primer pairs developed to these loci were tested against a panel of 10 P. infestans isolates and approximately 10% were shown to be polymorphic and therefore appropriate for further testing. Secondly, the construction and screening of a partial genomic library resulted in the development of one additional polymorphic marker. The resulting 12 SSR markers were converted to higher-throughput fluorescence-based assays and used in combination with two previously published markers to characterize a wider collection of 90 P. infestans isolates from the UK and six other countries. Several isolates from the closely related species P. mirabilis , P. ipomoea and P. phaseoli collected from around the world were also genotyped using these markers. Amongst the 90 isolates of P. infestans examined, considerable SSR diversity was observed, with 68 different genotypes and an average of 3·9 (range 2–9) alleles per locus. When other Phytophthora species were genotyped, all loci were successfully amplified and the majority were polymorphic, indicating their transferability for the potential study of other closely related taxa.     

Population changes in Phytophthora infestans in Taiwan associated with the appearance of resistance to metalaxyl

In recent years, late blight, caused by Phytophthora infestans (Mont) De Bary, has increased in severity in many parts of the world, and this has been associated with migrations which have introduced new, arguably more aggressive, populations of the pathogen. In Taiwan, late blight has been endemic on outdoor tomato crops grown in the highlands since the early 1900s, but recent epidemics have been more damaging. To ascertain the present status of the Taiwanese population of P infestans, 139 isolates of the pathogen collected and maintained by the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center (AVRDC) were characterized using mating type, metalaxyl sensitivity, allozyme genotype, mitochondrial haplotype and RFLP fingerprinting. Up to 1997, all isolates were found to belong to the old clonal lineage of P infestans (US-1 and variants), but in isolates from 1998 a new genotype appeared, and by 2000 this had apparently completely displaced the old population. This new genotype was an A1 mating type and has the dilocus allozyme genotype 100/100/111, 100/100 for the loci coding for glucose-6-phosphate isomerase and peptidase, respectively. These characters, together with RG57 fingerprinting, indicated that these isolates belonged to the US-11 clonal lineage, a minority (11%) being a previously unreported variant of US-11. Whereas metalaxyl-resistant isolates were not detected in the old population, 96% of the new genotypes proved resistant, with the remainder being intermediate in sensitivity. It may be inferred from this sudden, marked change in the characteristics of the Taiwanese P infestans that a new population of the pathogen was introduced around 1997-98 and that this may well have already been metalaxyl-resistant when it arrived, although a role for in situ selection cannot be excluded.     

芒果苷对马铃薯晚疫病菌的抑菌作用机制初探

芒果苷是知母Anemarrhena asphodeloides中的一种有效成分,室内生物测定结果表明,其 对马铃薯晚疫病菌Phytophthora infestans的菌丝生长有较强的抑制作用,其EC50值为32.65 μg/mL, 但对游动孢子释放的抑制作用较弱,其EC50值为100.97 μg/mL。采用考马斯亮蓝G-250比色法对马铃薯晚疫病菌菌丝体内蛋白质含量变化的测定结果表明,芒果苷对晚疫病菌菌丝体的蛋白质合成有抑制作用;在浓度低于12.5 μg/mL时,芒果苷对晚疫病菌菌丝体细胞膜的通透性影响不大,随浓度的增加,使菌丝体细胞膜电导率明显增大。利用孢子悬浮液中溶氧量的变化进行呼吸代谢抑制试验的结果显示:芒果苷对马铃薯晚疫病菌呼吸代谢的糖酵解途径(EMP)、三羧酸循环(TCA)、磷酸戊糖途径(HMP)均有抑制作用,其中对HMP途径的抑制作用最明显。     

马铃薯晚疫病菌效应子PITG_16427.2的基因序列分析及功能验证

 马铃薯晚疫病的病原是致病疫霉菌(Phytophthora infestans),该病原菌在侵染马铃薯过程中分泌大量RxLR型效应子,但目前绝大多数RxLR效应子的功能和作用机制尚不明确。本研究成功克隆了致病疫霉菌的一个RxLR效应子PITG_16427.2,在本氏烟中瞬时表达PITG_16427.2,发现该效应子能够抑制6种激发子(INF1、PsojNIP、BAX、SIF2、Avh238、Avh241)激发的植物免疫反应。进一步研究发现,效应子PITG_16427.2在晚疫病菌侵染马铃薯早期上调表达。在15个致病疫霉菌株和3个同属菌株中克隆该基因,克隆到氨基酸序列一致性超过93%的同源基因,这些同源基因均能在本氏烟中抑制INF1和Avh241引起的HR,揭示了该效应子在病原卵菌中序列和功能的高度保守性。在本氏烟和马铃薯感病品种Désirée中瞬时表达PITG_16427.2,发现该效应子能够显著促进晚疫病菌的侵染。通过qRT-PCR方法检测发现,乙烯信号的相关基因ERF1显著上调,而水杨酸信号相关基因PR1b显著下调,表明PITG_16427.2在晚疫病菌侵染过程中可抑制寄主的SA信号途径,促进晚疫病菌侵染。因此,RxLR型效应子PITG_16427.2是致病疫霉菌中一个重要的侵染致病因子。     

Enhanced Polymerase Chain Reaction Methods for Detecting and Quantifying Phytophthora infestans in Plants

ABSTRACT Sensitive and specific primer sets for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for Phytophthora infestans, the oomycete that causes late blight of potato and tomato, were developed based on families of highly repeated DNA. The performance of these primers was compared to those developed previously for the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) of ribosomal DNA. The detection limit using the new primers is 10 fg of P. infestans DNA, or 0.02 nuclei. This is about 100 times more sensitive than ITS-directed primers. Nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) allows the measurement of down to 0.1 fg of DNA using the new primers. To enhance the reliability of diagnostic assays, an internal positive control was developed using an amplification mimic. The mimic also served as a competitor for quantitative PCR, which was used to assess the growth of P. infestans in resistant and susceptible tomato. A key dimension of this study was that two laboratories independently checked the specificity and sensitivity of each primer set; differences were noted that should be considered when PCR is adopted for diagnostic applications in any system.     

Sensitivity of Phytophthora infestans to mandipropamid and the effect of enforced selection pressure in the field

Sensitivity to the new carboxylic acid amide (CAA) fungicide mandipropamid (MPD) in Phytophthora infestans was measured for isolates collected between 1989 and 2002 in Israel prior to the commercial use of MPD (baseline sensitivity, 44 isolates), and from MPD-treated (25 isolates) and untreated fields (215 isolates) in nine European countries and Israel between 2001 and 2005. All isolates were sensitive to MPD, with EC₅₀ values ranging between 0·02 and 2·98  µ g mL⁻¹. Plastic-tunnel (UK), shade-house (Israel) and field experiments (Israel) conducted during 2001–05 showed that enforced selection pressure, applied preventively or curatively, imposed by repeated sublethal (5  µ g mL⁻¹) or excessive (500–1000  µ g mL⁻¹) doses of MPD on mixed isolates of P. infestans produced no isolates resistant to the compound. The results of this study indicate that the probability of a buildup of resistant sub-populations of P. infestans to mandipropamid in the field is low.     

丁吡吗啉对致病疫霉的作用机制初探

丁吡吗啉(pyrimorph)是一种结构新颖的杀菌剂,室内生物测定结果表明,其对致病疫霉Phytophthora infestans的菌丝生长、孢子囊产生、休止孢萌发具有较强的抑制作用,其EC50值分别为0.066、0.059和0.550 μg/mL,但对游动孢子释放的抑制作用较弱,其EC50值为 9.78 μg/mL。显微镜下观察结果表明,经丁吡吗啉处理后的菌丝分枝相对较少,分枝间距拉长,但对 菌丝直径无影响;从致病疫霉对番茄叶片的侵染过程来看,丁吡吗啉浓度为100 μg/mL时,处理24 h后在叶片表面只能看到少量休止孢萌发,96 h后未产生孢子囊。丁吡吗啉在1 μg/mL和10 μg/mL 时对菌丝体细胞膜的电导率无影响,但当浓度为50 μg/mL时其电导率值明显上升;初步测定结果表明,在100 μg/mL浓度下,其对致病疫霉菌丝体的蛋白质合成有一定的抑制作用,但对其菌丝体内的DNA合成没有明显的抑制作用。     

Tolerance of Mycelium of Different Genotypes of Phytophthora infestans to Freezing Temperatures for Extended Periods

ABSTRACT Mycelium of Phytophthora infestans, the causal agent of potato late blight, can initiate crop infections over successive years by overwintering in infected potato tubers that survive as seed in fields or within cull piles. This study used four different genotypes of P. infestans to evaluate the influence of freezing temperatures on survival of mycelium in vitro. Sporangium-free mycelium of P. infestans US1, US8, US11, and US14 growing on rye agar plates was exposed to temperatures ranging from -20 and 0 degrees C (experiment A) for different periods up to 24 h and from -5 and 0 degrees C (experiment B) for periods up to 5 days. Cultures were incubated at 12 degrees C after exposure, and survival of the cultures was estimated after 28 days by a digital image analysis technique that measured the average reflectance intensity (ARI) of images of the mycelium of temperature-treated cultures. The ARI values of treated cultures were compared with the growth of mycelium in negative controls (mycelium not present) and positive controls (mycelium exposed to 12 degrees C for an equivalent period), and determination of recovery was based on statistical differences from the controls. There were significant differences in ARI values among genotypes, temperature treatment, and exposure periods in all experiments. An index of recovery was calculated for each genotype at all treatment temperatures and exposure periods for both experiments. In experiment A, exposure of mycelium of P. infestans (all genotypes) to -20 and -10 degrees C proved lethal for exposure periods of more than 1 h. All genotypes showed some degree of recovery up to 24-h exposure at -5 and -3 degrees C. In both experiments, exposure of mycelium of P. infestans to 0 degrees C was not lethal to any genotype tested for any exposure period. In experiment B, all of the genotypes survived exposure up to 3 days at -3 degrees C to some degree, but at -5 degrees C, exposure of 1 day was lethal to all genotypes. Tolerance of freezing temperatures by mycelium of P. infestans may be an ecologically important survival mechanism and the increased tolerance of US8 and US14 may explain their predominance in cooler climates such as north-central United States.     

Inhibition of polyamine biosynthesis in Phytophthora infestans and Pythium ultimum

Mycelial growth, polyamine concentrations and the activities of enzymes of polyamine biosynthesis and catabolism were examined in Phytophthora infestans and Pythium ultimum grown in the presence of difluoromethylornithine (DFMO), an inhibitor of omithine decarboxylase (ODC), and difluoro-methylarginine (DFMA), an inhibitor of arginine decarboxylase (ADC). Growth of P. infestans was reduced by DFMO and a mixture of DFMO + DFMA, but was increased by DFMA at concentratiotis of 5 MM and greater, Polyamine concentrations and ODC activity were significantly reduced in P. infestans grown on all inhibitor treatments. In contrast, growth, polyamine concentrations and enzyme activities were not affected in P, ultimum exposed to the inhibitors.
It seems unlikely that P. infestans and P. uttimum possess ADC activity, as neither of the products of ADC activity (agmatine and putrescine) could be detected in ADC assays. Although ODC from P. infestans was sensitive to DFMO, ODC from P. uttimum was insensitive to the inhibitor. Moreover, uptake of DFMO by P. infestans was three times greater than that observed by P. ultimum.     

Foliar Aggressiveness of Phytophthora infestans in Three Potato Growing Regions in the Netherlands

Thirty-six isolates of Phytophthora infestans originating from three different potato growing regions in the Netherlands were tested for their aggressiveness to leaves of potato cultivar Bintje under controlled conditions. Measurements of latent period, maximal growth rate, infection efficiency and sporulation intensity were made and a composite aggressiveness index was calculated. Large variation in aggressiveness was present among isolates for each regional P. infestans population studied. The three populations differed significantly in latent period, but not for maximal growth rate and infection efficiency. Phenotypic variation existed for all components of aggressiveness and the aggressiveness index in P. infestans from each regional source. No association was found between mating type and aggressiveness. It is concluded that high levels of variation for aggressiveness are being generated and maintained through sexual reproduction in P. infestans strains from regional potato growing practices.     

Quantifying the Rate of Release and Escape of Phytophthora infestans Sporangia from a Potato Canopy

ABSTRACT A means for determining the rate of release, Q (spores per square meter per second), of spores from a source of inoculum is paramount for quantifying their further dispersal and the potential spread of disease. Values of Q were obtained for Phytophthora infestans sporangia released from an area source of diseased plants in a potato canopy by comparing the concentrations of airborne sporangia measured at several heights above the source, with the concentrations predicted by a Lagrangian Stochastic simulation model. An independent estimate of Q was obtained by quantifying the number of sporangia per unit area of source at the beginning of each sampling day by harvesting diseased plant tissue and enumerating sporangia from these samples. This standing spore crop was the potential number of sporangia released per area of source during the day. The standing spore crop was apportioned into time segments corresponding to sporangia concentration measurement periods using the time trace of sporangia sampled above the source by a Burkard continuous suction spore sampler. This apportionment of the standing spore crop yielded potential release rates that were compared with modeled release rates. The two independent estimates of Q were highly correlated (P = 0.003), indicating that the model has utility for predicting release rates for P. infestans sporangia and the spread of disease between fields.     

Genetic structure and pathogenicity of populations of Phytophthora infestans from organic potato crops in France, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom

Genetic variation and pathogenicity of Phytophthora infestans isolates collected from organic potato crops of the susceptible cv. Bintje and the moderately resistant cv. Santé were assessed in France, Norway, and the United Kingdom in 2001 and in Switzerland in 2001 and 2002. Population structures differed considerably between the four P. infestans populations. Those from France, Switzerland and the UK were mainly clonal populations showing restricted levels of genetic diversity, whilst those from Norway were mixed A1 and A2 mating type populations with high levels of genetic diversity, suggesting periodical sexual reproduction. Isolates collected from cv. Bintje were on average more aggressive than or comparable to isolates from cv. Santé. Race complexity varied considerably between the regional P. infestans populations, with isolates from France and Switzerland showing the highest number of virulence factors. In all pathogen samples but the French, isolates collected from cv. Santé were more complex than isolates collected from cv. Bintje. No directional selection towards increased aggressiveness towards the more resistant cultivar Santé was observed. This suggests that there is no shift towards increased levels of pathogenicity in P. infestans populations following the large-scale introduction of more resistant potato varieties in organic production systems in Europe.     

The effect of foliar application of phosphonate formulations on the susceptibility of potato tubers to late blight

Foliar sprays of potato plants with phosphonic acid (partially neutralised with potassium hydroxide to pH 6.4) substantially reduced infection of the tubers by Phytophthora infestans, the cause of late blight, in glasshouse and field experiments over a 4-year period. Healthy tubers of blight-susceptible cultivars removed from treated plants and artificially inoculated by spraying with sporangial/zoospore suspensions of P infestans did not develop disease symptoms, demonstrating that the phosphonate applications had directly reduced the susceptibility of tubers to infection, probably as a result of translocation into tuber tissue. In contrast, foliar application of fosetyl-aluminium did not significantly reduce tuber blight development following inoculation. Five to six sprays of partially neutralised phosphonic acid (2 kg ha-1) applied at 10-14 day intervals resulted in the least tuber infection, but such a treatment regime may not be economic. In trials where the effect of timing and rate of application of 2-4 kg phosphonic acid ha-1 was examined, a single treatment of 4 kg ha-1 applied mid- or late-season proved the most effective. A spray programme in which one or two applications of phosphonic acid are combined with use of a non-systemic or systemic fungicide to enhance foliar protection offers the possibility of controlling both foliage and tuber blight and could have a major impact in reducing overwinter survival of P infestans in tubers.