Received: 24 March, 2010. Accepted: 21 August, 2010. Invited Review Genes, Genomes and Genomics ©2011 Global Science Books New Insights in the Study of Strawberry Fungal Pathogens Carlos Garrido • María Carbú • Francisco Javier Fernández-Acero • Victoria E. González-Rodríguez • Jesús M. Cantoral * Laboratory of Microbiology, Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Environmental and Marine Sciences Faculty. University of Cádiz, 11510, Puerto Real, Spain Corresponding author: * jesusmanuel.cantoral@uca.es ABSTRACT Strawberry (Fragaria ananassa) is one of the world’s most commercially important fruit crops, and is grown in many countries The commercial viability of the crop is continually subject to various risks, one of the most serious of which is the diseases caused by phytopathogenic organisms. More than 50 different genera of fungi can affect this cultivar, including Botrytis spp., Colletotrichum spp., Verticillium spp., and Phytophthora spp. The development of new molecular biology technologies, based on genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics approaches, is revealing new insights on the diverse pathogenicity factors causing fungal invasion, degradation and destruction of the fruit (in planta and during storage and transport). Researchers have focused attention on the plant’s own defence mecha- nisms against these pathogens. In this review, advances in the study and detection of fungal plant pathogens, new biocontrol methods, and proteomic approaches are described and the natural defence mechanisms recently discovered are reported. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Keywords: biocontrol, elicitor, molecular tools, proteomics, real-time PCR Abbreviations: AFLP, amplified fragment length polymorphism; APS, America phytopathological society; CECT, Spanish type culture collection; CTAB, cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide; CUE, critical use exemption; DGGE, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis; ELISA, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; EPPO, the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization; FAO, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; GADPH, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase; IGS, interGenic spacer; ITS, internal transcribed spacer; LUX, light upon extension; MALDI-TOF, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight; MDH, malate dehydrogenase; MeBr, methyl bromide; PCR, polymerase chain reaction; PIC, chloropicrin; PMF, peptide mass fingerprinting; RAPD, random amplified polymorphic DNA; RFLP, restriction fragment length polymorphism; SCAR, sequence characterized amplified region; QPS, quarantine and preshipment; U.S., United States CONTENTS INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................................................................................ 24 MAIN STRAWBERRY FUNGAL DISEASES ........................................................................................................................................... 26 Leaf diseases............................................................................................................................................................................................ 26 Fruit diseases ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 28 Crown and root diseases .......................................................................................................................................................................... 29 BIOCONTROL OF DISEASES................................................................................................................................................................... 30 DIAGNOSIS AND MONITORING OF DISEASES ................................................................................................................................... 32 PROTEOMICS APPROACHES AS A TOOL TO STUDY STRAWBERRY FUNGAL PATHOGENS...................................................... 34 CONCLUSIONS .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 36 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................................................................................................... 37 REFERENCES............................................................................................................................................................................................. 37 _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ INTRODUCTION The genus Fragaria is a member of the Rosaceae family, Rosoideae subfamily, which comprises twenty eight species and several subspecies. Fragaria x ananassa Duch. is the most important species commercially, being the predomi- nant species cultivated for strawberry production globally (FAO 2000); it is, however, of only recent historical origin. Prior to the relatively recent development of F. x ananassa, other species, such as F. chiloensis, F. virginiana, F. vesca and F. moschata, had been cultivated in Europe, America and Asia for centuries (JA 2004). Over the last two hundred and 50 years, these species were largely superseded by cul- tivation of F. x ananassa. In the middle of the 18 th century, the North American F. virginiana Duchesne (male) and the South American F. chiloensis Duchesne (female) were crossed in France, leading to production of hybrid seedlings that came to be known as Pineapple or Pine strawberries (Maas 1998). These hybrids are the progenitors of the modern cultivated strawberry F. x ananassa Duch. In the following years, after further hybridizations, F. x ananassa developed a larger, more fragrant and tastier red berry than its progenitors and, in the middle years of the 1800’s, this new species was introduced into America from Europe. Cultivation of the other older species has progressively de- clined and they have been superseded by F. x ananassa; the other species are only occasionally grown domestically or in small isolated regions around the world (Bertelson 2010). Many different cultivars or varieties of F. x ananassa are found around the world. Since this species has been distributed and cultivated very widely geographically, new cultivars are constantly appearing because the strawberry plant is strongly influenced by photoperiod, temperature, and other environmental conditions of various regions. Although there are about a dozen cultivars constituting the most common varieties used for world strawberry produc- tion, it is very complicated to discover the exact number and names of actual cultivars of strawberry existing in the ®