PCR Detection of the Three Neofabraea Pathogenic Species Responsible for Apple Bull’s Eye Rot

Abstract

Apple bull's eye rot is caused by pathogenic Neofabraea species including N. malicorticis, N. perennans and N. alba. Fruits carrying this fungal quarantine disease are prohibited from entering China. The host plants for the pathogens in-clude several Rosaceae fruits including apple and pear. Disease symptoms and pathogen morphology are often insuffi-cient to determine the identity of the pathogen, particularly at the species level. In the current study, we analyzed the inter-species sequence variations in the β-tublin gene, and designed specific primers to allow PCR amplification of 554 bp fragments from pathogenic Neofabraea species. The PCR products were recovered and sequenced, and Blast search was conducted using the DNA sequences in the Genbank database. The results indicated precise PCR amplification of the target sequences from the host pathogen, which allowed unambiguous identification of the species.