Bark-inhabiting fungal communities of European chestnut undergo substantial alteration by canker formation following chestnut blight infection.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Chestnut forests are severely threatened by chestnut blight caused by the fungal pathogen Cryphonectria parasitica and the infected trees exhibit bark canker in the later stage of the disease. European chestnut (Castanea sativa) is further infected by Gnomoniopsis smithogilvyi, another canker-causing fungal pathogen. We explored whether and how chestnut blight is reflected in bark-inhabiting fungal communities of European chestnut and also assessed the co-occurrence of C. parasitica and G. smithogilvyi.

Materials and methods

We initially investigated the fungal communities of European chestnut bark tissues and further monitored changes in these fungal communities with regard to disease progression from infection to canker formati

SUBMITTER: Douanla-Meli C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9911167 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature