Environmental Microbiology (2019) 21, 2886-2904

Luca Nerva, Massimo Turina, Alessandro Zanzotto, Massimo Gardiman, Federica Gaiotti, Giorgio Gambino and Walter Chitarra (2019)
Isolation, molecular characterization and virome analysis of culturable wood fungal endophytes in esca symptomatic and asymptomatic grapevine plants
Environmental Microbiology 21 (8), 2886-2904
Abstract: Europe is the world largest grape producer, but in recent years, the report of diseases due to infection by grapevine trunk pathogens (GTPs) is becoming one of the main constraints for viticulture. Among grapevine trunk diseases (GTDs), esca syndrome is one of the most complex, characterized by simultaneous infection of several fungi, which leads to important reduction in yield and quality. Previous characterization of fungal isolates associated with esca syndrome leads to the recognition of at least three important players: Phaeoacremonium minimum, Phaemoniella chlamydospora and Fomitiporia mediterranea. Here we isolated and characterized molecularly fungal endophytes directly from field wood tissues of plants showing or not esca symptoms. In addition, to better characterize such collection, a deep RNA sequencing (100 M reads in paired-end) to screen for mycovirus presence was performed. Thirty-nine viral genomes were detected, 38 of which were putative new viral species; some of these viruses infected GTPs, including P. minimum and F. mediterranea. In this work, we reported for the first time a curated collection of grapevine fungal endophytes identifying the associated mycoviruses some of which could be employed in future biotechnological exploitation as biological control agents for sustainable plant protection.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Walter Chitarra

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
general biology - morphology - evolution
biocontrol - natural enemies
Research topic(s) for beneficials or antagonists:
surveys/distribution/isolation

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Fomitiporia mediterranea	Grapevine (Vitis)	Italy
	Phaeoacremonium minimum	Grapevine (Vitis)	Italy