Morphological, serological and molecular analyses of anthracnose-causing agent on banana fruit

Abstract

Two species of the genus Colletotrichum, C. musae and C. gloeosporoides, occur as infecting species of banana. The study focused on examining the etiology of anthracnose on banana fruits sold on the domestic market. An isolate was obtained from a diseased banana fruit on PDA medium, forming a white colony with intensive and uniformed growth. It was not possible to identify the isolated fungus based on its morphological characteristics. Positive serological reaction in an ELISA test with monoclonal antibodies for C. acutatum indicated an antigen site for the used monoclonal antibodies. Positive reaction when C. gloeosporioides-specific primers were applied indicated a similarity in the ITS sequence of the fungus and the examined isolate from banana fruit. Although there are no available data in literature that C. gloeosporioides-specific CgInt primer can be used for amplification of the phylogenetically related C. musae, our results do not exclude that the isolate could be C. musae. The host plant, symptoms observed and colony characteristics of the fungus isolated from the banana fruit mostly correspond to C. musae. Based on morphological, antigen and gentic characteristics, the isolate from banana was determined as Colletotrichum sp., while species identification of the anthracnose-causing agent on banana requires additional analysis.Na banani se javljaju dve vrste iz roda Colletotrichum, C. musae i C. gloeosporoides. Cilj ovog rada bio je ispitivanje etiologije antraknoznog propadanja plodova banane koje se u nasoj zemlji nalaze u prometu. Iz obolelog ploda banane dobijen je izolat koji na PDA podlozi formira koloniju bele boje sa intenzivnim uniformnim rastom. Na osnovu dobijenih morfoloskih osobina izolovane gljive nije se mogla definitivno uraditi identifikacija. Pozitivna seroloska reakcija u ELISA testu sa monoklonalnim antitelima za C. acutatum govori o postojanju antigenog mesta za koriscena monoklonalna antitela. Pozitivna reakcija koriscenjem prajmera specificnih za C. gloeosporioides ukazuje na slicnost u sekvenci ITS regiona ove gljive i ispitivanog izolata iz banane. Mada u literaturi nije zabelezeno da se koriscenjem CgInt prajmera specificnog za C. gloeosporioides moze amplifikovati i njemu filogenetski bliska C. musae, ovi rezultati ne iskljucuju mogucnost da je izolat iz banane C. musae. Biljka domacin, zabelezeni simptomi i osobine kolonije izolata iz banane najvise odgovaraju C. musae. Na osnovu dobijenih rezultata morfoloskih, antigenih i genetskih osobina izolat iz banane oznacen je kao Colletotrichum sp., a za tacnu identifikaciju prouzrokovaca antraknoze ploda banane do nivoa vrste neophodno je sprovesti dalje analize.