DISEASE NOTE THE REMOTE CITROID FRUIT TREE GLYCOSMIS PENTAPHYLLA IS A HOST OF CITRUS LEPROSIS VIRUS C AND EXHIBITS NOVEL LEPROSIS SYMPTOMS J. Freitas-Astúa 1,2 , A.L. Fadel 2 , R. Antonioli-Luizon 2 , M. Bas- tianel 2 , V.M. Novelli 2 , E.W. Kitajima 3 and M.A. Machado 2 1 Embrapa Cassava and Tropical Fruits, s/n, Cruz das Almas, BA, Brazil, 44380-000 2 Centro APTA Citros Sylvio Moreira-IAC, CP 4, Cordeirópolis, SP, Brazil,13490-970 3 Departamento de Entomologia, Fitopatologia e Zoologia Agrícola, ESALQ, CP9, Piracicaba, SP, Brazil, 13418-900 Citrus leprosis virus C (CiLV-C), the causal agent of one of the main virus disease of citrus in Brazil, is consid- ered to have a narrow host range. However, recent studies have shown that some weeds, hedgerow and windbreak plants can host CiLV-C, thus may play a role in the epi- demiology of the disease (Bastianel et al., 2006). We now report that CiLV-C can infect Glycosmis pentaphylla Retz. DC., a rutaceous shrub native to tropical Asia. G. penta- phylla is grown for its edible ripe fruits in gardens that can be near citrus groves. G. pentaphylla leaves were infested with presumably viruliferous Brevipalpus phoenicis mites, the vector of CiLV-C, which had been reared on leprosis- infected plants for 72 h. Twenty-four days after infestation, localized symptoms appeared as conspicuous dark spots, with a darker center and irregular borders surrounded by a small chlorotic halo. These spots differed significantly from the well-defined chlorotic to necrotic lesions often seen in leprotic Citrus spp. tissues. The symptoms re- mained unchanged for 110 days. CiLV-C was detected in symptomatic leaves by RT-PCR using specific primers that amplify a region of its putative movement protein gene (Locali et al., 2003). Amplified products had the expected 344 bp size. Thirty-three amplicons were cloned and se- quenced (GenBank accession No. EU257507). Their de- duced amino acid sequence was 93% identical to that of a Brazilian isolate of CiLV-C (YP_654542.1), confirming the identification of the virus transmitted. This is the first re- port of CiLV-C infecting a remote citroid fruit tree, and G. pentaphylla is the only so far known CiLV-C host exhibit- ing such particular symptoms. Bastianel M., Freitas-Astúa J., Kitajima E.W., Machado M.A., 2006. The citrus leprosis pathosystem. Summa Phytopathologica 32: 211-220. Locali E.C., Freitas-Astúa J., Souza A.A., Takita M.A., Astúa-Monge G., Antonioli R., Kitajima E.W., Machado M.A., 2003. Development of a molecular tool for the diagnosis of leprosis, a major threat to the citrus production in the Americas. Plant Disease 87: 1317-1321. Corresponding author: J. Freitas-Astúa Fax: +55. 19.3546.1399 E-mail: jfastua@centrodecitricultura.br DISEASE NOTE FIRST REPORT OF PHOMOPSIS ACTINIDIAE CAUSING CANKERS ON SHOOTS OF KIWIFRUIT IN GREECE T. Thomidis Alexander Technological Education Institute of Thessaloniki, School of Agricultural Technology, Department of Crop Production, 57400 Sindos, Thessaloniki, Greece In June and through summer 2007, wilted and blighted shoots with distinct dark cankers were observed on ki- wifruit plants of cvs Hayward and Tsechelidis in the province of Imathia (Greece). Isolations made on acidified potato dextrose agar yielded a fungus which was identified as Phomopsis actinidiae (Henn.) Died. on the basis of mor- phological and sporulation characters. Circular chalk white-colored aerial mycelial mats developed in culture af- ter incubation at 25°C for 7 days. After additional 3-4 weeks, black, spherical or bluntly conical pycnidia 230-500 μm in size bearing a- and b-conidia were formed all over the mycelial mats. The conidia, extruded as yellowish or milky conidial masses, were hyaline, unicellular, fusiform, filiform to hamate. Koch’s postulates were fulfilled by in- oculating with agar plugs from fungal colonies, 20 seg- ments (6 cm in length and 1.5-2 cm in diameter) of 1-year- old woody shoots of kiwifruit cv. Hayward as described by Jeffers et al. (1981). Ten segments, used as controls, were wounded and inoculated with an agar disk without fungal mycelium. Shoot segments inoculated with the fungus de- veloped cankers similar to those observed in the field, from which the same pathogen as that used for inocula- tions was recovered. Controls remained symptomless. P. ac- tinidiae has been reported as the causal agent of leaf blight and fruit rot of kiwifruit in other countries (Jeong et al., 2008) but, to our knowledge, this is the first report of its occurrence in Greece, on kiwifruit showing cankers on the shoots. Jeffers S.N., Aldwinckle H.S., Burr T.J., Arneson P.A., 1981. Ex- cised twig assay for the study of apple tree crown rot pathogens in vitro. Plant Disease 65: 823-825. Jeong I.H., Lim M.T., Kim G.H., Han T.W., Kim H.C., Kim M.J., Park H.S., Shin S.H., Hur J.S., Shin J.S., Koh Y.J., 2008. Inci- dences of leaf spots and blights on kiwifruit in Korea. Plant Pathology Journal 24: 125-30. Corresponding author: T. Thomidis Fax: +30.2310791351 E-mail: thomi-1@otenet.gr Journal of Plant Pathology (2009), 91 (2), 499-505 Edizioni ETS Pisa, 2009 499 Received August 18, 2008 Accepted January 27, 2009 Received December 18, 2008 Accepted March 5, 2009 031_TESTI_DN_499 25-06-2009 12:55 Pagina 499