Pleosporales » Didymellaceae » Ascochyta

Ascochyta pisi

Ascochyta pisi Lib., Pl. crypt. Arduenna, fasc. (Liège) 1(nos 1-100): no. 59 (1830).

Index Fungorum number: IF 177968; Facesoffungi number: FoF06808, Fig. 1

Description: See Chen et al. (2015), Hyde et al. (2020).

Material examined: see Chen et al. (2015), Hyde et al. (2020).

Fig. 1. Ascochyta pisi (MFLU 18-0904). a. Appearance of ascomata on host. b. Section thorugh ascomata. c. Peridium. d. Cellular Pseudoparaphyses. e–g. Asci. h–k. Ascospores. Scale bars: a, b = 100 μm, c = 50 μm, d = 10 μm, e–k = 20 μm.

Importance and distribution

There are 989 Ascochyta epithets in Index Fungorum (2022), but many species have been transferred to other genera such as Ascochytella, Asteromella, Didymella, Diplodina, Kamatella, Leptosphaeria, Marssonina, Microcyclus, Microdiplodia, Mycosphaerella, Neocamarosporium, Phloeospora, Phoma, Plectosphaerella, Pseudodiplodia, Septoria, Sphaerulina and Xenodidymella. Ascochyta comprises 723 species known on wide range of plants such as Canavalia ensiformis (Fabaceae), Castanopsis fissa (Fagaceae), Cicer arietinum (Fabaceae), Citrus sp. (Rutaceae), Clitoria ternatea (Fabaceae), Crotalaria spectabilis (Fabaceae), Dolichos lablab (Fabaceae), Glycine max (Fabaceae), Juglans regia (Juglandaceae), Lathyrus cicero (Fabaceae), Melilotus officinalis (Fabaceae), Onobrychis viciifolia (Fabaceae), Papaver dubium (Papaveraceae) and Phaseolus aureus (Fabaceae). Ascochyta rabiei is the main fungal pathogen that cause devastating blight on chickpea (Cicer arietinum) (Shtienberg et al. 2006; Javaid et al. 2020). Ascochyta has cosmopolitan distribution such as Africa (Ethiopia), Asia (China, Hong Kong, Japan), Europe (Bulgaria, Italy, Netherlands, Poland), North America (Canada) and South America (Brazil, Venezuela) amongst others. This genus needs revision as many species do not have sequence data and many species could be complexes or belong to other genera.

Biochemical importance of the genus, chemical diversity or applications

Ascochyta produces several chemicals such as pectic enzymes, exo-polygalacturonase (PG) and a pectin methyl esterase (Tenhaken and Barz 1990) and other phytotoxic metabolites (Kim and Chen 2019). Kanoh et al. (2008) reported Ascochytatin, a bioactive Spirodioxynaphthalene Metabolite from the marine-derived fungus, Ascochyta sp. NGB4.

References

Aveskamp MM, de Gruyter J, Woudenberg JHC, Verkley GJM, Crous PW. 2010 – Highlights of the Didymellaceae: a polyphasic approach to characterise Phoma and related pleosporalean genera. Studies in Mycology 65, 1–60.

Aveskamp MM, Gruyter J de, Crous PW. 2008 – Biology and recent developments in the systematics of Phoma, a complex genus of major quarantine significance. Fungal Diversity 31, 1–18.

Boerema GH, Bollen GJ. 1975 – Conidiogenesis and conidial septation as differentiating criteria between Phoma and Ascochyta. Persoonia 8, 111–444.

Chen Q, Jiang J, Zhang G, Cai L, Crous P. 2015 – Resolving the Phoma enigma. Studies in Mycology 82, 137–217.

De Gruyter J, Aveskamp MM, Woudenberg JHC, Verkley GJM et al. 2009 – Molecular phylogeny of Phoma and allied anamorph genera: Towards a re-classification of the Phoma complex. Mycological Research 113, 508–519.

Hyde KD, Dong Y, Phookamsak R, Jeewon R et al. 2020 – Fungal diversity notes 1151–1276: taxonomic and phylogenetic contributions on genera and species of fungal taxa. Fungal Diversity 100, 5–277.

Hyde KD, Jones EBG, Liu JK, Ariyawansa H et al. 2013 – Families of Dothideomycetes. Fungal Diversity 63, 1–313.

Javaid A, Munir R, Khan IH, Shoaib A. 2020 – Control of the chickpea blight, Ascochyta rabiei, with the weed plant, Withania somnifera. Egyptian Journal of Biological Pest Control 30, 114

Jayasiri SC, Hyde KD, Jones EBG, Jeewon R et al. 2017 – Taxonomy and multigene phylogenetic evaluation of novel species in Boeremia and Epicoccum with new records of Ascochyta and Didymella (Didymellaceae). Mycosphere 8, 1080–1101.

Kanoh K, Okada A, Adachi K, Imagawa H et al. 2008 – Ascochytatin, a novel bioactive spirodioxynaphthalene metabolite produced by the marine-derived fungus, Ascochyta sp. NGB4. The Journal of Antibiotics 61, 142–8.

Kim W, Lichtenzveig J, Syme RA, Williams AH, Peever TL, Chen W. 2019 – Identification of a Polyketide Synthase Gene Responsible for Ascochitine Biosynthesis in Ascochyta fabae and Its Abrogation in Sister Taxa. mSphere 4, e00622–19.