The genus Colletotrichum contains a large number of phytopathogenic fungi that produce enormous economic losses around the world. The effect of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) has not been studied yet in these organisms. Inter-Kingdom HGT into fungal genomes has been reported in the past but knowledge about the HGT between plants and fungi is particularly limited. We describe a gene in the genom...

The genus Colletotrichum, comprised of pathogenic fungi that affect plants grown worldwide, causes the disease known as anthracnose in several fruit and vegetable species. Several studies conducted on plants have shown that the disease is characterized by the presence of one or several species of the fungus attacking the fruit or other organs of the same host. To develop and implement effective...

In a preliminary analysis, 21 Colletotrichum strains with large conidia preserved in the CBS culture collection clustered with a recently described species, C. gigasporum, forming a clade distinct from other currently known Colletotrichum species complexes. Multi-locus phylogenetic analyses (ITS, ACT, TUB2, CHS-1, GAPDH) as well as each of the single-locus analyses resolved seven distinct speci...

Colletotrichum species infect several economically important crop plants. To establish a compatible parasitic interaction, a specialized infection cell, the melanized appressorium, is differentiated on the cuticle of the host. After penetration, an infection vesicle and primary hyphae are formed. These structures do not kill the host cell and show some similarities with haustoria formed by powd...

The presentations of the Special Interest Group meeting Colletotrichum: species, ecology and interactions, held on 1 August 2010 during IMC9 in Edinburgh, UK, are outlined. Seven research projects, ranged from systematics and population genetics to host-pathogen interactions and genome projects were presented. The meeting revealed that currently major species complexes in the genus Colletotrich...

In addition to its economic impact, Colletotrichum acutatum sensu lato is an interesting model for molecular investigations due to the diversity of host-determined specialization and reproductive lifestyles within the species complex. The pathogen Colletotrichum fioriniae forms part of this species complex and causes anthracnose in a wide range of crops and wild plants worldwide. Some members o...

Genetic diversity and differentiation of 50 Colletotrichum spp. isolates from legume crops studied through multigene loci, RAPD and ISSR analysis. DNA sequence comparisons by six genes (ITS, ACT, Tub2, CHS-1, GAPDH, and HIS3) verified species identity of C. truncatum, C. dematium and C. gloeosporiodes and identity C. capsici as a synonym of C. truncatum. Based on the matrix distance analysis of...

The antagonistic activities of five biocontrol agents: Trichoderma harzianum, Gliocladium roseum, Bacillus subtilis, Streptomyces noursei and Streptomyces natalensis, were tested in vitro against Colletotrichum acutatum and Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, the causal agents of anthracnose disease in fruit crops. The microbial antagonists inhibited mycelial growth in the dual culture assay and co...

UNLABELLED Colletotrichum acutatum is known as an important anthracnose pathogen of a wide range of host plants worldwide. Numerous studies have reported subgroups within the C. acutatum species complex. Multilocus molecular phylogenetic analysis (ITS, ACT, TUB2, CHS-1, GAPDH, HIS3) of 331 strains previously identified as C. acutatum and other related taxa, including strains from numerous hosts...

Pathogenesis of nonadapted fungal pathogens is often terminated coincident with their attempted penetration into epidermal cells of nonhost plants. The genus Colletotrichum represents an economically important group of fungal plant pathogens that are amenable to molecular genetic analysis. Here, we investigated interactions between Arabidopsis and Colletotrichum to gain insights in plant and pa...