Hymenoscyphus Fraxineus Is a Leaf Pathogen of Local Fraxinus Species in the Russian Far East
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Plant Pathology (2017) 66, 490–500 Doi: 10.1111/ppa.12588 Hymenoscyphus fraxineus is a leaf pathogen of local Fraxinus species in the Russian Far East R. Drenkhana*, H. Solheimb, A. Bogachevac, T. Riitd, K. Adamsona, T. Drenkhana, T. Maatena and A. M. Hietalab aInstitute of Forestry and Rural Engineering, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Fr.R. Kreutzwaldi 5, 51 014 Tartu, Estonia; bNorwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, PO Box 115, N-1431 As, Norway; cInstitute of Biology and Soil Sciences of the Far East Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Prospect 100 Letiya Vladivostoka, 159 Vladivostok, Russia; and dInstitute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Ravila 14a, 50 411 Tartu, Estonia Dieback of European ash was first observed in Europe in the early 1990s. The disease is caused by the invasive ascomy- cete Hymenoscyphus fraxineus, proposed to originate from Far East Asia, where it has been considered a harmless saprotroph. This study investigates the occurrence of H. fraxineus in tissues of local ash species in the Russian Far East, and assesses its population-specific genetic variation by ITS sequencing. Shoot dieback symptoms, characteristic of H. fraxineus infection on European ash, were common, but not abundant, on Fraxinus mandshurica and Fraxinus rhynchophylla trees in Far East Russia. High levels of pathogen DNA were associated with necrotic leaf tissues of these ash species, indicating that the local H. fraxineus population is pathogenic to their leaves. However, the low levels of H. fraxineus DNA detected in shoots with symptoms, the failure to isolate this fungus from such tissues, and the pres- ence of other fungi with pathogenic potential in shoots with symptoms indicate that local H. fraxineus strains may not be responsible (or their role is negligible) for the observed ash shoot dieback symptoms in the region. Conspicuous dif- ferences in ITS rDNA sequences detected between H. fraxineus isolates from Russian Far East and European popula- tions suggest that the current ash dieback epidemic in Europe might not directly originate from the Russian Far East. Revision of the herbarium material shows that the earliest specimen of H. fraxineus was collected in 1962 from the Russian Far East and the oldest H. fraxineus specimen of China was collected in 2004. Keywords: Chalara fraxinea, Fraxinus mandshurica, Fraxinus rhynchophylla, herbaria, Hymenoscyphus pseudoalbidus, invasion Introduction (Primorskiy Kray), the fungus was first documented in 2005 on rachises of Mandshurian ash (Baral & Bem- Dieback of European ash (Fraxinus excelsior) was first mann, 2014). Two years later, the fungus was reported observed in Poland in the early 1990s (Kowalski & in South Korea on rachises and petioles of fallen leaves Holdenrieder, 2009). The causal agent of ash dieback is of Korean ash (F. rhynchophylla) and Mandshurian ash Hymenoscyphus fraxineus (syn. H. pseudoalbidus, ana- (Han et al., 2014). In 2012, H. fraxineus was recorded morph Chalara fraxinea), a discomycete from the order in China for the first time, on rotten rachises, petioles Helotiales. Owing to efficient spread by windborne and leaflet veins of Mandshurian ash (Zheng & Zhuang, ascospores, this pathogen is now present almost through- 2014). out the entire natural distribution range of European ash In contrast to European ash, Mandshurian and Korean (McKinney et al., 2014), and threatens the future of this ashes have been reported to exhibit no dieback symp- tree species and associated biodiversity (Pautasso et al., toms in their native range, and, therefore, H. fraxineus 2013). was considered to be a harmless saprotroph on decom- Hymenoscyphus fraxineus has been proposed to be posing leaf tissues (Hosoya et al., 1993; Zhao et al., native to East Asia (Zhao et al., 2013). In Asia, the first 2013; Han et al., 2014; Zheng & Zhuang, 2014; Gross record of H. fraxineus is from Japan (under the name & Han, 2015). However, in European arboreta, typical Lambertella albida) on petioles of decaying leaves of dieback symptoms were observed on Mandshurian ash, Mandshurian ash (F. mandshurica) and dates back to although the degree of damage was considerably smaller 1990 (Hosoya et al., 1993). In the Russian Far East compared to that observed on European ash (Drenkhan & Hanso, 2010). Following artificial inoculation of stem *E-mail: [email protected] wounds of young Mandshurian ash seedlings, both Euro- pean and Japanese strains of H. fraxineus caused necro- tic lesions on shoots (Gross & Holdenrieder, 2015). In Published online 11 August 2016 another artificial inoculation experiment in Europe, 490 ª 2016 British Society for Plant Pathology H. fraxineus is a leaf pathogen 491 involving stem wounding, Japanese H. fraxineus strains Krussmann€ (1965), Wallander (2012), and the Oleaceae infor- caused significantly longer lesions on F. excelsior and F. mation site (www.oleaceae.info). pennsylvanica seedlings compared to European strains of Nine herbarium specimens of Hymenoscyphus fruit-bodies, – the fungus (Gross & Sieber, 2016). Taken together, the collected in the Russian Far East during 1962 2012 and north- – inoculation studies suggest that the tested Japanese eastern China during 2003 2004, and originally identified as Hymenoscyphus caudatus, H. albidus or H. epiphyllus strains of H. fraxineus have pathogenic potential in (Table 1), were subjected to molecular identification. shoots of European ash, F. pennsylvanica and also Mandshurian ash. Several studies have been carried out to determine the Fungal isolation and DNA extraction genetic diversity, population structure, and pathways and Fungi were isolated from necrotic shoot lesions of Fraxinus spp. patterns of spread of H. fraxineus in Europe. The general (nine different shoot samples) growing in the Russian Far East lack of population structure (Bengtsson et al., 2012; by following the procedures described in Drenkhan & Hanso Gross et al., 2012, 2014; Burokiene et al., 2015) and (2010). Briefly, shoot surfaces were sterilized with 96% ethanol considerably lower allelic richness in European H. frax- before bark removal. Tissue pieces were cut from the lower edge ineus populations compared to the Japanese populations of discoloured xylem associated with up to 1-year-old bark lesions, placed on malt extract agar (MEA) in Petri plates and (Zhao et al., 2013; Gross et al., 2014) suggest that the incubated for 2 weeks at room temperature in the dark. Pure European population might have been established by a cultures were obtained by subculturing the emerging fungal small number of fungal individuals. Moreover, based on colonies onto fresh MEA medium. comparative gene sequence analyses of elongation factor, For molecular analysis, ash tissues (36 leaf, 32 shoot and 2 calmodulin and actin, and internal transcribed spacer seed samples; Tables 1, 2 & S1) and isolated fungal cultures (ITS) regions of rDNA, Japanese, Chinese and Korean H. were homogenized in an MM400 homogenizer (Retsch GmbH) fraxineus populations show more genetic variation than with the aid of steel beads, and subjected to DNA extraction the European population (Zhao et al., 2013; Gross et al., with E.Z.N.A Fungal DNA Mini kit (Omega Bio-Tek Inc.) or 2014; Han et al., 2014). These studied Asian populations DNeasy Plant Mini kit (QIAGEN), according to the manufac- of H. fraxineus are genetically markedly different from turers’ instructions. Ascocarps of H. fraxineus (24 samples; Table 1) were either homogenized with an MM400 homoge- the European population, and, thus, comparative genetic nizer and subjected to DNA extraction using the E.Z.N.A Fun- analyses of additional Asian populations are needed to gal DNA Mini kit, or were ground manually in Eppendorf tubes localize the source population of the pathogen. using a pestle and sterile quartz sand, and subjected to DNA There is a long history of import of seeds and plants extraction following ‘protocol 8’ (Isolation of DNA from Mouse of Mandshurian ash from Russian Far East to the Baltic Tails) of the Easy-DNA kit (Invitrogen). Shoot bark was States (Drenkhan et al., 2014). Therefore, the Russian H. removed before DNA extraction. fraxineus populations represent a potential source for introduction of the pathogen to Europe. The main aims ITS rDNA PCR for sequence analysis of this study were to investigate (i) whether the local ash species in the Russian Far East show symptoms that are For DNA extracted from pure fungal cultures and fruit-body samples, the PCR was carried out using primers ITS1-F (50- characteristic of ash dieback in Europe, (ii) the occur- 0 rence of H. fraxineus in such tissues, and (iii) the level of CTTGGTCATTTAGAGGAAGTAA-3 ) (Gardes & Bruns, 1993) and ITS4 (50-TCCTCCGCTTATTGATATGC-30) (White et al., genetic variation in the ITS rDNA gene cluster among H. 1990) and HotStarTaq Plus DNA polymerase (QIAGEN) in a fraxineus strains from the region. To achieve these goals, 50 lL reaction volume. PCR mixture and cycling conditions fruit bodies of Hymenoscyphus spp. as well as leaves, were adjusted following instructions of the polymerase manufac- shoots and seeds were collected from Mandshurian ash, turer. Korean ash and unidentified Fraxinus species in Pri- For detection of H. fraxineus from DNA extracted from plant morskiy Kray and Khabarovskiy Kray regions and sub- tissues and ascocarps, species-specific primed PCR (SSPP) was 0 jected to molecular analyses. performed using the primer pair HFrax-F (5 -CTTTAG 0 0 In addition, herbarium specimens of Hymenoscyphus CAGGTCGCCCTCT-3 ) and