Search

Erwinia amylovora causes fire blight, a devastating disease of apples and pears. Here, we report the complete genome sequence and annotation of E. amylovora strain TS3128, which was isolated from Anseong, South Korea, where fire blight first occurred in 2015, using the PacBio RS II system.

Kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis Planch.) is an economically important horticultural crop. This study reports a new pathogen of brown leaf spot disease in kiwifruit. Brown leaf spot symptoms were observed on the leaves of cv. Redvita in Jeju, South Korea. The leaf spot diseases appeared as extensive, angular, brown, yellow, white or fused color spots on the leaves. Fungi were isolated and identified as Fusarium tricinctum (Corda) Sacc. based on their morphological and molecular characteristics. Pathogenicity tests were conducted with mycelium and the conidia inoculation. The pathogen was re-isolated from the artificially developed symptoms, and identified as F. tricinctum as Koch’s postulates were confirmed. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the brown leaf spot caused by F. tricinctum on kiwifruit.

Streptomyces griseus S4-7 is representative of strains responsible for the specific soil suppressiveness of Fusarium wilt of strawberry caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. fragariae. Members of the genus Streptomyces secrete diverse secondary metabolites including lantipeptides, heat-stable lanthionine-containing compounds that can exhibit antibiotic activity. In this study, a class II lantipeptide provisionally named grisin, of previously unknown biological function, was shown to inhibit F. oxysporum. The inhibitory activity of grisin distinguishes it from other class II lantipeptides from Streptomyces spp. Results of quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction with lanM-specific primers showed that the density of grisin-producing Streptomyces spp. in the rhizosphere of strawberry was positively correlated with the number of years of monoculture and a minimum of seven years was required for development of specific soil suppressiveness to Fusarium wilt disease. We suggest that lanM can be used as a diagnostic marker of whether a soil is conducive or suppressive to the disease.

Fire blight disease, caused by Erwinia amylovora, could damage rosaceous plants such as apples, pears, and raspberries. In this study, we designed to understand how E. amylovora affected other bacterial communities on apple rhizosphere; twig and fruit endosphere; and leaf, and fruit episphere. Limited studies on the understanding of the microbial community of apples and changes the community structure by occurrence of the fire blight disease were conducted. As result of these experiments, the infected trees had low species richness and operational taxonomic unit diversity when compared to healthy trees. Rhizospheric bacterial communities were stable regardless of infection. But the communities in endosphere and episphere were significanlty affected by E. amylovora infection. We also found that several metabolic pathways differ significantly between infected and healthy trees. In particular, we observed differences in sugar metabolites. The finding provides that sucrose metabolites are important for colonization of E. amylovora in host tissue. Our results provide fundamental information on the microbial community structures between E. amylovora infected and uninfected trees, which will contribute to developing novel control strategies for the fire blight disease.

The microbiome makes a significant contribution to plant health and endophytes may generate positive effects for the host. However, there is a limited knowledge available concerning the kiwifruit endophyte. Therefore, we discuss endophyte microbiome community structures among the kiwifruit cultivars. Total reads numbered 17620 in cv. Hayward, 11515 in cv. Haegeum and 13613 in cv. Jecygold. The number of OTUs was follows: 112 in cv. Hageum; and 87 in cvs. Hayward and Jecygold. Most of the identified OTUs were phylum Proteobacteria and it emerged that Actinobacteria, Firmicute and Bacteroidetes were mainly present. While the largest difference in Proteobacteria content is between cv. Haegeum and cv. Jecygold, they shared more OTUs than cv. Hayward. As well, this study revealed the presence of remarkably dominated OTU of Pseudomonas spp. in kiwifruit sap regardless of cultivars. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first tone to investigate the kiwifruit endophyte-microbiome community.

Kiwifruit has been cultivated in southern coastal regions of Korea since late 1970s. New cultivars have been successively released in recent years. In this study, we investigated major disease and pest incidences in new kiwifruit cultivars 'Goldone', 'Redvita' and 'Garmrok' at open field in Sacheon for 3 years and rain-proof field in Jeju for 2 years. For the bacterial canker, the 3 new cultivars showed more disease occurrence in Sacheon but rare in Jeju. For leaf spot disease, compared to disease incidence of 20% on 'Hayward' in Sacheon, cv. 'Garmrok' had high incidence about 60% but cv. 'Goldone' and cv. 'Redvita' had low incidence less than 20%. However, in Jeju, diseases incidences of all the new cultivars were lesser than 20%. In the case of Hemiptera, many Halyomorpha halys and Nezara antennata appeared in Sacheon but in Jeju Plautia stali was dominated. Isolated bacterial canker pathogen was identified as Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae biovar 3. Leaf spots pathogens were Phomopsis sp., Phoma sp., Fusarium tricinctum and Alternaria alternata. This study shows the disease information on new kiwifruit cultivars and the adequate disease managements will be required.

Lime bordeaux mixture (LBM) and lime sulfur mixture (LSM) are representative environmental friendly organic materials for prevention of insect pests in South Korea. Recently, those have been widely used as an alternative for chemical pesticides in eco-friendly farms. However, South Korea has not established even recommendation of LBM and LSM considering the stability of heavy metals in soil. The aim of this study was to evaluate the accumulation of hazardous heavy metals in soil and plant with long-term application of LBM and LSM. Firstly, we investigated the amount of LBM and LSM used per year in several eco-friendly farms to determine a standard application rate of both materials. The pepper plant was grown on the pot in greenhouse for 14 weeks. Both materials were applied at 0, 1, 3, and 9 times of standard application rates (2.56 and 1.28 L ha-1 of LBM and LSM per year, respectively). Dry matter yield of pepper and heavy metals (As, Cd, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, and Zn) concentration in soil and pepper plant were measured after 14 weeks. Yield of pepper plant did not significantly chang with up to application rate of 1 times, thereafter it markedly decreased with more than 3 times. With increasing LBM and LSM application, the concentration of Cu and Zn in soil significantly increased. Especially, Zn concentration in pepper significantly increased with increasing application rates of both materials. This might resulted in significant decrease in dry matter yield of pepper. The concentrations of those heavy metals in soil did not exceed safety levels (150 mg kg-1 for Cu and 300 mg kg-1 for Zn) established by the Korean Soil Environmental Conservation Act as well as concentration of heavy metals in pepper plant by Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. However, particular attention should be paid for heavy metal safety and crop productivity when using LBM and LSM in the organic farm.

Exports of strawberries are currently expanding and have risen by 65% in the last few years. However, the occurrence of gray mold disease in packed strawberries has emerged. Gray mold disease, caused by Botrytis cinerea, leads to the decomposition of strawberries, reducing the total harvesting of th...

Grafted cacti constitute an important part of South Korea’s export floricultural industry. Korean grafted cacti occupy more than 70% of the world’s grafted cactus market. Many diseases (head rot, stem rot, basal rot) affect different species/cultivars of cacti, including Bimoran (Gymnocalycium mihanovichii var. friedrichii), So-Jung (Notocactus scopa) and San-Chwi (Chamaecereus silvestrii). This study was conducted to investigate the occurrence of diseases and their symptoms, accompanied by a molecular diagnosis of two major exported cactus cultivars, specifically So-Jung and Bimoran. Two commercial fields, greenhouse A (GA) and greenhouse B (GB), were investigated for the existence of pathogens, incidents of disease and their severity. GA indicated more disease incidence than (GB) in consecutive seasons. In cv. So-Jung, head rot and basal rot diseases were the most predominant in both GA and GB. In cv. Bimoran, symptoms of head rot confirmed that this was the most severe disease in both fields. In fact, two diseases—head rot and basal rot—were caused by Alternaria sp. (head rot), Fusarium oxysporum (basal rot), respectively. Mycological characteristics and multiplex PCR-based molecular diagnosis methods confirmed the pathogens for each disease.

The flower is the most important part of the phyllosphere because it provides a large amount of nutrients and protective habitat for various microorganisms. Colonized microorganisms modulate the microbial ecology of flowers by changing their environment. In this study, we investigated microbial diversity in tomato flower (TF) and bumblebee hive (TH) for 3 months. As time passed, microbial diversity and distribution in TF and TH became similar. We assumed that microorganisms inhabiting TFs were delivered by bumblebee. Actinobacteria constitute a well-colonizing microorganism that can move from TH to TF. We isolated eight strains of Streptomyces spp., which belonged to Actinobacteria. These strains showed antifungal activity against Botrytis cinerea which is a gray mold pathogen in many plants. We conclude that bumblebee transmits microorganisms to flowers and change their microbial diversity.

Fusarium wilts of strawberry, caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. fragariae, is a serious soil-borne disease. Fusarium wilt causes dramatic yield losses in commercial strawberry production and it is a very stubborn disease to control. Reliable chemical control of strawberry Fusarium wilt disease is not yet available. Moreover, other well-known F. oxysporum have different genetic information from F. oxysporum f. sp. fragariae. This analysis investigates the genetic diversity of strawberry Fusairum wilt pathogen. In total, 110 pathogens were isolated from three major strawberry production regions, namely Sukok, Hadong, Sancheong in Gyeongnam province in South Korea. The isolates were confirmed using F. oxysporum f. sp. fragariae species-specific primer sets. Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analyses were executed using the internal transcribed spacer, intergenic spacer, translation elongation factor1-α, and β-tubulin genes of the pathogens and four restriction enzymes: AluI, HhaI, HinP1I and HpyCH4V. Regarding results, there were diverse patterns in the three gene regions except for the β-tubulin gene region. Correlation analysis of strawberry cultivation region, cultivation method, variety, and phenotype of isolated pathogen, confirmed that genetic diversity depended on the classification of the cultivated region.

Farfugium japonicum (L.) Kitam (common name: Leopard plant) is known as a medical herb and belongs to family Asteraceae (1). In June 2012, a leaf spot disease was observed on the leaf surface of F. japonicum at a forest research plot Jinju, Gyeongnam province, Korea. More than 95% of F. japonicum plants were infected and leaf spot symptom appeared in the regions under our investigation. Light brownish symptoms initially developed and the spot size gradually increased and turned dark brown with an irregular shape as the disease progressed (spot size 1 to 10 mm in diameter). At the late stage of disease, spots became hollow and completely dehydrated. The infected leaves were easily crumbled, possibly due to dryness. To isolate the causal agent, the infected leaves were surface disinfected and pieces of leaves were placed on water agar (WA). Nine isolates were isolated from 10 pieces of the infected leaves. Fungi mycelia from the WA were transferred on potato dextrose agar (PDA) and incubated at 28°C for 7 days. The colonies were purple navy to black and conidia spores developed on the media. The morphological characteristics of spores were multi-septate, dark brown, pyriform, and 6.7 to 12.8 × 22.2 to 38.4 μm. The spores had 1 to 4 transverse and 0 to 3 longitudinal septa. The morphological characteristics of the isolates showed considerably similar to well-known Alternaria tenuissima (2). The leaf spot disease caused by A. cinerariae of F. japonicum was reported from Japan (3). Spores of A. cinerariae are golden brown to brown with 3 to 9 transverse and 0 to 6 longitudinal septa and are 87.5 × 28.7 μm (avg.) (3). To verify pathogenicity of the isolate, the pure cultured fungi on the PDA medium was taken (4 mm in diameter) and placed on healthy leaves of Leopard plant. The artificially inoculated leaves were placed on wet filter paper in Petri dishes and incubated at 25°C and 80% humidity. At 7 days after inoculation, similar disease symptoms developed on 8 out of 10 infected Leopard plant leaves. The pathogen was reisolated from artificially infected leaves. To identify in molecular biology level, genomic DNA was extracted and the ITS-rDNA region was amplified using universal primers ITS1 and ITS4. The amplified PCR product was purified and sequenced (528 bp) with ITS1 and ITS4 primers for both directions and then deposited in GenBank (Accession No. KC415611.1). The BLAST search showed that it matched previously reported A. tenuissima with 100% identity. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of Leopard plant leaf spot disease in Korea. References: (1) E. Y. Kim et al. J. Ethnopharmacol. 146:40, 2013. (2) E. G. Simmons. Page 1 in: Alternaria Biology, Plant Diseases and Metabolites. J. Chelchowski and A. Visconti, eds. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1992. (3) T. Sakoda et al. Res. Bull. Pl. Prot. Japan 46:73, 2010.

Strawberry bacterial angular leaf spot (ALS) disease, caused by Xanthomonas fragariae has become increasingly problematic in the strawberry agro-industry. ALS causes small angular water-soaked lesions to develop on the abaxial leaf surface. Studies reported optimum temperature conditions for X. fragariae are 20°C and the pathogen suffers mortality above 32°C. However, at the nursery stage, disease symptoms have been observed under high temperature conditions. In the present study, results showed X. fragariae transmission was via infected maternal plants, precipitation, and sprinkler irrigation systems. Systemic infections were detected using X. fragariae specific primers 245A/B and 295A/B, where 300-bp and 615-bp were respectively amplified. During the nursery stage (from May to August), the pathogen was PCR detected only in maternal plants, but not in soil or irrigation water through the nursery stage. During the cultivation period, from September to March, the pathogen was detected in maternal plants, progeny, and soil, but not in water. Additionally, un-infected plants, when planted with infected plants were positive for X. fragariae via PCR at the late cultivation stage. Chemical control for X. fragariae with oxolinic acid showed 87% control effects against the disease during the nursery period, in contrast to validamycin-A, which exhibited increased efficacy against the disease during the cultivation stage (control effect 95%). To our knowledge, this is the first epidemiological study of X. fragariae in Korean strawberry fields.

Soybean sprouts have been a considered a nutrient-rich vegetable for hundreds of years. To evaluate the seedlot quality of soybean sprouts grown, and to evaluate a method for reducing the presence of improper seeds in soybean seedlots, microbes associated with soybean sprout rot were isolated from samples collected. Morphological characteristics and gas chromatography profiles of the cultured fungal and bacterial strains were identified. Eight types of improper seeds were identified: purple stain(Ps), black rot(Br), seed coat black spot(Cb), wrinkled seed(Ws), brown hilum(Bh), seed coat fracture(Cf), unripe seed(Us), and brown seed coat(Bc). The improper seeds were also dipped into 15%, 20%, and 25% NaCl solutions, as well as a saturated solution of NaCl, for 1min. As the NaCl concentration increased, the number of floating improper seeds increased as well. The highest floating rates were observed for the Cf seeds.

In Korea, Strawberry bacterial angular leaf spot disease was first reported in 2010. The disease of strawberry caused serious problem for strawberry producers and export. To field test, we applied the bactericides in June and October as nursery stage and cultivation stage, respectively. In nursery stage with high temperature condition, Oxolinic acid (97.2%) showed significant control effect. In cultivation stage with low temperature condition is soil sterilization and soil non- sterilization the control effect. In cultivation stage in soil sterilization stage Validamycin (93.3%) showed reliable control effect against the disease. Also, soil non-sterilization stage with low control effect of Validamycin (80%) showed control effect the lower than a soil sterilization stage.

Anthracnose, caused by Colletotrichum spp. is the most important and devastating disease insweet persimmon production in worldwide. There is no alternative control method or resistant cultivar isavailable. Therefore, chemical controls are widely accepted to control the disease. Three fungicides among 16fungicides have been selected to apply in field condition. The selected three fungicides (metconazole,dithianon and propineb) showed lower EC 50 and reliable control effect in both in vitro and in vivo. Accordingto general guide line of anthracnose disease control method recommended 8 times spay of the fungicide. Inthis study, we performed 8, 4, and 2 times spay of the fungicides. For 8 times application, practice spraymachine has been used and for 4 and 2 time application, a recently invented spray machine was input. Thefungicides have been treated from middle of June to end of August in 2014 year. Control effect of among theselected fungicides showed similar result regardless of sort of the fungicide. However, frequency of sprayresult showed significantly different results, 8 and 4 times fungicide application showed low and similardisease occurrence, but 2 times application showed intermediated disease occurrence between 4 timestreatment and untreated control. Taken together, result showed that 4 times application with effective fungicide,mechanically advanced tool can reduced the anthracnose disease damage in sweet persimmon production.Key words Colletotrichum spp., Fungicide, Sweet persimmon

Various diseases occur in fruits, leave and roots during strawberry cultivation and cause severe economical damage and huge amount of chemical fungicide use. Recently, as consumers` interest in safety of foods and organic agriculture produces have increased, control measures using alternatives for chemical fungicides have been newly developed in various ways. This study was conducted to test antifungal activity and control effect of sodium dichloroisocyanurate (NaDCC), using as disinfectants, against major disease pathogens of strawberry, Fusarium oxysporum (Fusarium wilt), Colletotrichum gloeosporioides (Anthracnose) and Phytophthora sp. (Phytophthora blight), and Xanthomonas fragariae (bacterial angular leaf spot) and evaluate availability as environment-friendly materials. When NaDCC was treated at the concentration range of 150 to 300 ppm, it suppressed significantly hyphal growth and reduced spore germination by more than 28%. In field condition, NaDCC showed excellent control effect (control value: 50%) against the bacterial angular leaf spot disease. Based on above-described results, we suggested that NaDCC can be used as alternative candidates to chemical pesticide alternatives of for controlling strawberry diseases.

Streptomyces spp. isolated from turfgrass rhizosphere and tested for their response to large-patch control fungicides. The tested fungicides were actually used in golf course or turfgrass cultivation to prevent large-patch disease. Tolerance to 3 triazole group of the strains was the highest to the PR fungicide, and following the SR fungicide, whereas the isolated strains were no tolerance to HR fungicide. Tolerances to three kind of Strobilurin group were similar for the all of the tested Streptomyces spp.. Growth and sporulation of the all strain was normal in CB and AP fungicide treatments. However no spore formulated in double concentration. Strains, tolerance to acetanilide fungicides, appeared that KT fungicide tolerance was higher than MK fungicide. The selected strains showed strong tolerance against AT fungicide but have no tolerance to ATR fungicides. In conclusion, the bacterial strains showed tolerance against 1 carbamate, 1 organophosphate and 1 cyanopyrrole group, while have no tolerance against two mixture formulations (1 Quinone + Strobilurin and 1 Imidazole + Triazole).

Strawberry Fusarium wilt disease, caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. fragariae, is the most devastating disease in strawberry production. The pathogen produces chlamydospores which tolerate against harsh environment, fungicide and survive for decades in soil. Development of detection and quantification techniques are regarded significantly in many soilborne pathogens to prevent damage from diseases. In this study, we improved specific-quantitative primers for F. oxysporum f. sp. fragariae to reveal correlation between the pathogen density and the disease severity. Standard curve r2 value of the specific-quantitative primers for qRT-PCR and meting curve were over 0.99 and 80.5°C, respectively. Over pathogen 105 cfu/g of soil was required to cause the disease in both lab and field conditions. With the minimum density to develop the wilt disease, the pathogen affected near 60% in nursery plantation. A biological control microbe agent and soil solarization reduced the pathogen population 2-fold and 1.5-fold in soil, respectively. The developed F. oxysporum f. sp. fragariae specific qRT-PCR protocol may contribute to evaluating soil healthiness and appropriate decision making to control the disease.

최근 경북 포항의 산딸기 재배지역에서 잿빛곰팡이병 증상이 발생하였다. 초기에는 잎의 가장자리나 과경 부위에 갈색 반점이 나타나며 병이 진전되면 병반 부위가 확대되고 수침상으로 물러지면서 표면이 회색 곰팡이로 덮이는 것이 관찰되었다. 이러한 증상이 발생한 잎으로부터 병원균을 분리하고 균학적 특성을 조사하...

Rhizopus fruit rot was observed on strawberry fruit (Fragaria x ananassa Duchesne) grown in a glass greenhouse at the Gyeongsangnam-do Agricultural Research and Extension Services, Jinju, South Korea, from 2011 to 2013. Symptoms included water-soaking, rapid softening, and rotting. When these symptoms were left untreated, vigorous fungal growth was observed on the surface of infected fruits. Colonies on potato dextrose agar (PDA) at 30°C were white-cottony to brownish-black. Sporangia were globose, black, and 40–210 ㎛ in diameter. Sporangiophores were light-brown and 6–22 ㎛ in diameter. Sporangiospores were globose to oval, brownish, streaked, and 4–12 ㎛ in length. Columellae were light brownish gray, hemispherical, and 80– 120 ㎛ in diameter. To confirm the identity of the causal fungal pathogen, the complete internal transcribed spacer (ITS) ribosomal RNA gene region was amplified and sequenced. Based on these symptoms, mycological characteristics, pathogenicity tests on host plants, and molecular identification, the fungus was identified as Rhizopus oryzae Went & Prinsen Geerligs. This is the first report of Rhizopus fruit rot on strawberry caused by R. oryzae in Korea.

Anthracnose caused by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides is one of the most serious postharvest diseases of citrus fruit. Fruit peels infected with C. gloeosporioides and the peels of healthy fruit were analysed for flavonoids, using high performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectroscopy, to evaluate variations in flavonoid levels in Citrus benikoji Hort. ex. Tan. Seventeen flavonoids were characterised from the fruit peels. The flavonoids were validated using structurally related standards and quantified. Among the 17 flavonoids, the concentration of component 3 was the highest and that of component 10 was the lowest. During 8 days after inoculation, the concentration of the seven flavonoids 1 – 3 , 5 , 6 , 13 , and 14 increased gradually up to day 8. Flavonoid 4 was detected from day 7. The seven minor flavonoid components, 8 – 12 , 15 , and 16 increased to day 5 and then decreased. However, flavonoids level variations were not significantly different from that of the non-infected fruits during the experimental period. The monitoring suggested that the constitutively formed seven polymethoxyflavones ( 8 – 12 , 15 , and 16 ) may act as phytoanticipins in the defence mechanism against the fungus, and that hespertin 7- O -glucoside ( 4 ), produced de novo on day 6 after infection, may function as a phytoalexin.

In May 2014, sclerotinia rot symptoms caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum were observed on stored kiwifruit in Jinju, South Korea. The symptoms appeared as soft, water-soaked lesions on fruit covered with a white mycelium. The morphological characteristics and the internal transcribed spacer sequences of rRNA of the pathogen isolated from the sclerotinia rot showed it to be S. sclerotiorum. This was confirmed by performing a pathogenicity test with pure cultures of S. sclerotiorum and by reisolating S. sclerotiorum from artificially inoculated kiwifruits. Our results should help promote a better understanding of the diseases that affect kiwifruit and improve practices for postharvest disease control in the kiwifruit industry.

BACKGROUND Soybean sprouts (Kongnamool) are one of the most popular and nutritive traditional vegetables in East Asia. Anthracnose caused by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides is one of the most serious diseases of soybean sprouts. In order to obtain basic information for breeding and/or selecting soybean genotypes with increased natural defense against anthracnose, phenolic compounds were profiled for healthy and infected soybean (Glycine max Merr.) sprouts by using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry. RESULTS Tryptophan and eight phenolic compounds (daidzin, genistin, malonyldaidzin, malonylgenistin, daidzein, glycitein, genistein and coumestrol) were determined from healthy and inoculated sprouts. Total identified phenolic content was 40.02 ± 0.03 mg kg−1, 99.4% of which was isoflavones. CONCLUSION The monitoring suggested that de novo induced glycitein appeared to act as a phytoalexin in the defence mechanism of the soybean sprouts against C. gloeosporioides, and constitutively formed seven phenolic components that functioned as phytoanticipins in the diseased soybean sprouts. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry

Anthracnose disease caused by Colletotrichum horii (C. gloeosporioides), results in considerable economic damage to sweet persimmon in southern Korea yearly. This study deals with the life cycle of the pathogen in terms of seasonal fluctuations of spore dispersal and the development of disease based on field surveys, spore potential and fungal isolation. Anthracnose disease was observed first on twigs in the last week of May and reached an incidence of 1.2%. Subsequently, the disease increased rapidly and reached an incidence of 86% by the end of July. Infection of fruits started in mid-June (2.8%) and increased gradually to 64.4% by the end of July. In severely infected orchards, 46.2% of diseased fruits were dropped. The pathogen began releasing conidia in the first week of May and continued until the end of September. The maximum release of spores was observed in mid-July. To determine the optimal use of chemicals for control of anthracnose, the following spray programme was evaluated. Spraying two or three times resulted in 89.4 and 93% control, respectively, whereas spraying more than four times led to 100% control. In comparison, the disease rate of unsprayed trees was 89.8%. To control anthracnose effectively, it is recommended to take steps to eliminate inoculum sources in sweet persimmon orchards before spraying chemicals.

Plant growth and development depend on a precise coordination between cell division and cell expansion. In this study, a rice cell cycle switch 52 B (OsCCS52B) was functionally characterized using two approaches: overexpression of the gene product in fission yeast and characterization of an insertion mutant line 1B-10423. In wild-type plants, OsCCS52B is highly expressed in generative organs such as flowers and kernels. Overexpression of OsCCS52B induces cell elongation and slower cell proliferation in fission yeast. Characterization of the mutant line 1B-10423 revealed that the mutant exhibits semi-dwarf and smaller kernel phenotypes. In addition, microscopic analysis of mutant kernels showed that the reduced kernel size was due to a reduced cell size. However, the nuclear size and ploidy level were unaffected. These results suggest that OsCCS52B may be involved in cell expansion regulation in rice endosperm.

Azolla Lam. is a small aquatic fern with deeply bilobed leaves, which are consisted of a thick greenish, withchlorophyll, upper (dorsal) lobe and a thinner, translucent lower (ventral) lobe, without chlorophyll,submerged in the water. Azolla blight was observed at a lotus pond. Mycological characteristics of the fungusassociated with Azolla blight was immediately determined as Rhizoctonia sp. by the thickness and branchingof hypha at right angles at the point toward the distal end of septa, with branching hypha is constricted. Thefungus produced brown mycelia and dark brown sclerotia on PDA. The optimum temperature for mycelialgrowth and sclerotia formation were 25oC and 30oC, respectively. The optimum temperature for fungalinfection was 30oC, when spray inoculated. Phylogenetic analysis of rDNA-ITS revealed that the fungus wasidentified as Rhizoctonia solani (AG-1 IA) closest to one causing rice sheath blight disease. This is the firstreport on the blight disease of Azolla caused by R. solani in Korea.

Anthracnose symptoms were observed on leaves of red spider lilies in Korea. At the early stages of infection the symptoms appeared as small red spots on the leaves. In later stages, the infected leaves gradually turned yellow to brown and developed wilting symptoms. The pathogen isolated from the infected leaves of red spider lily was identified as C. gloeosporioides by morphological and molecular characteristics. C. gloeosporioides was confirmed as the pathogen responsible for the observed symptoms by performing a pathogenicity test.

Stem rot symptoms of common bean occurred sporadically in Jinju, Korea. The typical symptom included water-soaking on the main stem, rotting, wilting, and blighting, which eventually leads to death of the plant. The sclerotia, white to brown, spherical with size of 1−3 mm, formed over lesions and surface soil line. The optimum temperature for mycelial growth and sclerotia formation was 30oC on potato dextrose agar (PDA). The typical clamp connections were observed in the hyphae of the fungus grown on PDA. Mycological characteristics and pathogenicity to host plants indicated that the fungus was Sclerotium rolfsii Saccardo. This is the first report of stem rot on common bean caused by S. rolfsii in Korea.

Soft rot disease on Raspberry (Rubus crataegifolius Bunge) was observed in sale boxes at Jinju CityWholesale Market of Agricultural Products in June 2010. The infected fruits were rapidly water-soaked,softened, black and eventually rotted. The colonies on the infected fruits were white to light brown, formednumerous sporangiospores. Optimum temperature for the mycelial growth of the causal fungus on PDA was30oC and growth was still apparent at 37oC. Sporangia were globose, white at early and gradually to black,and 40-210 μm in diameter. Sporangiophores were white to mid brown as maturation and 8-20 μm indiameter. Columella were globose to sub-globose, and the size of the diameter was 85-120 μm in diameter.Sporangiospores were sub-globose, rhomboidal and irregular, streaked and 5-10 μm in length. On the basisof symptom, mycological characteristics, ITS rDNA sequence analysis, and pathogenicity of the fungus, thecausal fungus was clearly identified as Rhizopus oryzae Went & Prinsen Geerligs. This is the first report ofsoft rot by R. oryzae on R. crataegifolius in Korea.