Mycosphaerellales » Mycosphaerellaceae » Cercospora

Cercospora apii

Cercospora apii Fresen., Beitr. Mykol. 3: 91 (1863).

Index Fungorum number: IF 161938; Facesoffungi number: FoF 11135, Fig. 1

Description: see Braun et al. (2013, 2015); Braun and Crous (2016); Videira et al. (2017).

Material considered: see Braun et al. (2013, 2015); Braun and Crous (2016); Videira et al. (2017).

Fig. 1 Cercospora apii (redrawn from Hsieh and Goh 1990). a Leaf spots. b Conidiophores and conidia. Scale bar: a = 10 mm, b = 20 μm.

Importance and distribution

Species of Cercospora are pathogenic on a wide range of hosts often causing leaf spots. They can invade weakened and dead plants and primarily function as decomposers (Chand et al. 2012). They can also kill healthy host cells or cause wilting. Although there are 2025 Cercospora records in Index Fungorum (2022), many species have been transferred to other genera such as Cercosporina, Exosporium, Fusarium, Mycocentrospora, Mycosphaerella, Neopseudocercosporella, Passalora, Phaeoramularia, Pseudocercospora, Ramularia and Zasmidium. There are 754 morphological species of Cercospora. Cercospora has a worldwide distribution. Cercospora is a complex-genus that needs revision.

 

Industrial relevance and applications

Cercospora kikuchii produces lipase which is useful for industrial application and shows stabilization and retention of its enzymatic activity after spray drying (Costa-Silva et al. 2014). Cercospora are useful in agricultural industry as several fungicides can be produced from Cercospora (Pethybridge et al. 2017). Cercospora rodmanii has strong biological control potential for water hyacinth (Freeman and Charudattan 1984).

 

Quarantine significance

Cercospora is of quarantine significance due to its pathogenic nature.

 

Biochemical importance of the genus, chemical diversity or applications

Cercospora beticola produces beticolin-1 (Simon-Plas et al. 1996). Cercospora beticola also produces a non-host specific, yellow colored phytotoxin which has antibacterial properties (Schlösser et al. 1971). There is also evidence that Cercospora produces a pigment that efficiently sensitizes singlet molecular oxygen (Świderska-Burek et al. 2020). Most Cercospora species produce the nonspecific toxin cercosporin, which acts as a photosensitizing agent in plant cells (Agrios 2005). Several pathogenic Cercospora spp. produce the polyketide phytotoxin cercosporin (You et al. 2008). This toxin triggers production of reactive atomic oxygen in the cells, which causes disruption of cell membranes and loss of electrolytes from cells (Sharma et al. 2012).

 

References

Agrios GN. 2005 – How pathogens attack plants. In: Agrios G.N., editor. Plant Pathology. 5th ed. Academic Press; San Diego, CA, USA, 175–205.

Braun U, Crous P. 2016 – (2415) Proposal to conserve the name Cercospora (Ascomycota: Mycosphaerellaceae) with a conserved type. Taxon 65, 185.

Braun U, Crous PW, Nakashima C. 2015 – Cercosporoid fungi (Mycosphaerellaceae) 3. Species on monocots (Poaceae, true grasses). IMA fungus 6, 25–98.

Braun U, Nakashima C, Crous PW. 2013 – Cercosporoid fungi (Mycosphaerellaceae) 1. Species on other fungi, Pteridophyta and Gymnospermae. IMA Fungus 4, 265–345.

Chand R, Singh V, Pal C, Kumar P, Kumar M. 2012 – First report of a new pathogenic variant of Cercospora canescens on mungbean (Vigna radiata) from India. New Disease Report 26, 6.

Chupp C. 1954 – A monograph of the fungus genus Cercospora. Ithaca, New York.

Costa-Silva T, Souza C, Oliveira W, Said S. 2014 – Characterization and spray drying of lipase produced by the endophytic fungus Cercospora kikuchii. Brazilian Journal of Chemical Engineering 31, 849–858.

Crous PW, Braun U. 2003 – Mycosphaerella and its anamorphs: 1. Names published in Cercospora and Passalora. Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures, Utrecht, The Netherlands.

Deighton FC. 1967 – Studies on Cercospora and allied genera. II. Passalora, Cercosporidium, and some species of Fusicladium on Euphorbia. Mycological Papers 112,1–80.

Deighton FC. 1973 – Studies on Cercospora and allied genera. IV. Cercosporella Sacc., Pseudocercosporella gen. nov. and Pseudocercosporidium gen. nov. Mycological Papers 133, 1–62.

Deighton FC. 1974 – Studies on Cercospora and allied genera. V. Mycovellosiella Rangel, and a new species of Ramulariopsis. Mycological Papers 137, 1–75.

Deighton FC. 1976 – Studies on Cercospora and allied genera. VI. Pseudocercospora Speg., Pantospora Cif. and Cercoseptoria. Mycological Papers 140, 1–168.

Deighton FC. 1979 – Studies on Cercospora and allied genera. VII. New species and re-dispositions. Mycological Papers 144, 1–56.

Freeman TE, Charudattan R. 1984 – Cercospora rodmanii Conway: A Biocontrol Agent for Waterhyacinth. Bulletin 842.

Groenewald JZ, Nakashima C, Nishikawa J, Shin HD, Park JH, Jama AN, Groenewald M, Braun U, Crous PW. 2013 – Species concepts in Cercospora: spotting the weeds among the roses. Studies in Mycology 75, 115–170.

Hsieh WH, Goh TK. 1990 – Cercospora and similar fungi from Taiwan. Maw Chang Book Company, Taipei, Taiwan.

Ibrahim FM, Elamin EN. 1974 – A quantitative morphological classification of thirty species of Cercospora. Mycopathologia et Mycologia applicata 52, 141–146.

Pethybridge S, Vaghefi N, Kikkert J. 2017 – Management of Cercospora Leaf Spot in Conventional and Organic Table Beet Production. Plant Disease 101, 1642–1651.

Schlösser E. 1971 – The Cercospora beticola toxin. Phytopathologia Mediterranea 10, 154–158.

Sharma P, Jha AB, Dubey RS, Pessarakli M. 2012 – Reactive oxygen species, oxidative damage, and antioxidative defense mechanism in plants under stressful conditions. Journal of Botany.

Simon-Plas F, Gomes E, Milat ML, Pugin A, Blein JP. 1996 – Cercospora beticola Toxins (X. Inhibition of Plasma Membrane H+-ATPase by Beticolin-1). Plant physiology 111, 773–779.

Świderska-Burek U, Daub ME, Thomas E, Jaszek M, Pawlik A, Janusz G. 2020 – Phytopathogenic Cercosporoid Fungi-From Taxonomy to Modern Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. International Journal of Molecular Sciences 21, 8555.

Videira SIR, Groenewald JZ, Nakashima C, Braun U, Barreto RW, de Wit PJGM, Crous PW. 2017 – Mycosphaerellaceae - Chaos or clarity? Studies in Mycology 87, 257–421.

You BJ, Lee MH, Chung KR. 2008 – Production of cercosporin toxin by the phytopathogenic Cercospora fungi is affected by diverse environmental signals. Canadian Journal of Microbiology 54, 259–269.