Identification of airborne Penicillium species in the south African litchi export chain
C.L. Johnston, R. Jacobs and L. Korsten.
Journal of Plant Pathology Volume 90 (2, Supplement) August 2008, Book of Abstract, 9th International Congress of Plant Pathology, August 24-29, 2008 Torino,Italy,. 507 pages.
2008
บทคัดย่อ
Identification of airborne Penicillium species in the south African litchi export chain
Penicilliumis one of the most common fungal genera encounteredin the environment. Being a natural soil inhabitant, it’s presenceon litchi fruit may indicate cross-contamination. This cancause major losses to the fruit export industry, as postharvest decayof litchi fruit byPenicilliumspecies dramatically reduces theshelf-life of the fruit. This study was aimed at identifying 58 dominantPenicilliumgroups throughout the South African litchi exportchain. Morphological, as well as molecular methods such asDNA sequencing and Polymerase Chain Reaction-RestrictionFragment Length Polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) were used in theidentification. The Internally Transcribed Spacer (ITS) and betatubulin (b-tubulin) gene regions were analysed in this study.Eighteen of the most dominantPenicilliumspecies isolated duringthe 2004-2005, 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 seasons were identifiedasP. glabrum,P. biourgeianum,P. citreonigrum,P. paneum,P. solitum,P. crustosum,P. expansum,P. brevicompactum,P.polonicum,P. citrinum,P. chrysogenum,P. bialowiezense,P. echinulatum,P. corylophilum,P. commune,P. piscarium,P. sumatrenseandP. italicum. Fourteen of these 18 species could be differentiatedfrom one another through PCR-RFLP of theb-tubulin generegion. The remaining four groups (P. solitum,P. crustosum,P.communeandP. echinulatum) showed little variation in the bandingpatterns of the ITS region, while theb-tubulin region appearedto be highly variable. The ITS gene region is highly conservedand serves as a taxonomic indicator forPenicilliumspecieswhileb-tubulin is more variable and can be used to differentiatebetween closely related species.