Curvularia lunata
Curvularia lunata (Wakker) Boedijn, Bull. Jard. bot. Buitenz, 3 Sér. 13(1): 127 (1933).
≡ Acrothecium lunatum Wakker, in Wakker & Went, De Ziektan van het Suikerriet op Java: 196 (1898).
Index Fungorum number: IF 269889; Facesoffungi number: FoF 00508, Fig. 1
Description: see Seifert et al. (2011); Manamgoda et al. (2012).
Material examined: see Seifert et al. (2011); Manamgoda et al. (2012).
Figure. 1. Curvularia lunata (MFLU 10-0555) a Appearance of fungus on host substrate. b–g Conidiophores with conidia. Scale bars: b–g = 10 μm.
Importance and role
Importance of genus to ecosystem
Species of Curvularia are mainly fungal plant pathogens, for example, Curvularia lunata is the causal agent of the leaf blight disease in sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) (Srivastava et al., 2020).
Industrial relevance and applications
Curvularia can be exploited for pharmaceutical applications. Cur l 3 is a major allergen of Curvularia lunata that have promising immunotherapy (Sharma et al., 2011). Curvularia is also useful for agricultural industry. O-demethylated-zeaenol and zeaenol reported from Curvularia are promising biocontrol agent in agricultural industry (Yin et al., 2018). Curvularia sp. also produce metabolites that act as Motility Inhibitors against Phytophthora capsici Zoospores (Mondol et al., 2017).
Quarantine significance
Curvularia is of quarantine importance as it causes several diseases, for example, Curvularia oryzae infects rice grains and causes fruit rot in okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) (Lilian et al., 2002). Curvularia blight lead to thinning out and decline of the grass (Nischitha et al., 2020). Lopes and Jobim (1998) also reported Dermatomycosis of the Toe web caused by Curvularia lunata. The latter is also reported to cause subcutaneous phaeohyphomycosis in a renal transplant patient (Vásquez-del-Mercado et al., 2013).
Biochemical importance of the genus, chemical diversity or applications
Curvularia produces wide range of compounds. Hemrika et al. (1999) reported vanadium-containing chloroperoxidase from Curvularia inaequalis in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Liu et al. (2010) found a furanoid toxin produced by Curvularia lunata, the causal agent of maize Curvularia leaf spot. Xue et al. (2013) reported two pentanorlanostane metabolites from Curvularia borreriae in soil. Meepagala et al. (2016) reported Curvularin and Dehydrocurvularin as phytotoxic constituents from Curvularia intermedia infecting Pandanus amaryllifolius. César et al. (2016) reported Brefeldin-A, an antiproliferative metabolite from Curvularia trifolii in Mexico. Mondol et al. (2017) reported the antibacterial activity of ethyl acetate and methanol extracts of endophytic Curvularia tsudae in Cynodon dactylon. Polli et al. (2018) reported secondary metabolites from Curvularia sp. (G6-32) against Aedes aegypti Larvae. O-demethylated-zeaenol, zeaenol, adenosine and ergosta-5,7,22-trien-3b-ol were isolated from Curvularia crepinii (Yin et al., 2018). Tawfike et al. (2018) found dipeptide N-acetylphenylalanyl-L-phenylalanine, N-acetylphenylalanine and tripeptide N-acetylphenylalanyl-L-phenylalanyl-L-leucine from Curvularia sp. O-demethylated-zeaenol has good phytotoxic activity against Echinochloa crusgalli and antifungal activity against Valsa mali. Kaaniche et al. (2019) reported three bioactive compounds namely 2'-deoxyribolactone, hexylitaconic acid and ergosterol. Aliphatic carboxylic acid such as kheiric acid (3,7,11,15-tetrahydroxy-18-hydroxymethyl-14,16,20,22,24-pentamethyl-hexacosa 4E,8E,12E,16,18- pentaenoic acid was reported from Curvularia lunata (Srivastava et al., 2020). et al. (2020) found that the mycelial mat (MM) and culture filtrate (CF) of Curvularia tsudae have activity against Enterococcus faecalis, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas fluorescence and Staphylococcus aureus. Jayus et al. (2021) investigated the structure of exopolysaccharide produced by Curvularia lunata.
Diversity of the genus
Even though there are 208 Curvularia epithets in Index fungorum, the real number of species is less as numerous species have been synonymized and transferred to other genera namely Bipolaris, Brachysporium, Cochliobolus, Dendryphion, Drechslera, Endophragmiella, Exserohilum and Nakataea. Curvularia has wide host range such as Adhatoda sp. (Acanthaceae), Agave sisalana (Asparagaceae), Agrostis palustris (Poaceae), Allium cepa (On leaves) (Amaryllidaceae), Alnus rubra (On leaf surface) (Betulaceae), Aloe vera (Asphodelaceae), Amaranthus spinosus (Amaranthaceae), Anacardium occidentale (Amaranthaceae), Ananas comosus (leaves; leafedge dryseason spotting; leaf spot) (Bromeliaceae), Andropogon sorghum var. sudanensis (Poaceae), Anthephora hermaphrodita (Poaceae), Arachis hypogaea (Fabaceae), Areca catechu (Arecaceae), Artocarpus integra (Moraceae), Axonopus sp. (Poaceae), Bambusa vulgaris (Poaceae), Boehmeria nivea (Urticaceae) amongst others. Curvularia has wide geographical distribution such as Bolivia, Brazil, California, Cambodia, Costa Rica, China, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ghana, Guatemala, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Myanmar, Oregon, Taiwan, Virginia amongst others. Curvularia seems to be diverse genus and numerous species can be discovered in future studies.
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