Interspecificity of Scab Fungus Isolated from Wild Syrian Pear (Pyrus syriaca)

Scab on pear is caused by two pathogens, Venturia pyrina on European pear and V. nashicola on Asian pear. Five races of V. pyrina and seven races of V. nashicola have been reported thus far and pathological specialization occurs in both species. Among them, the five race isolates of V. pyrina were previously found from wild Syrian pear. In this study, mating and morphological characteristics of Venturia isolates from Syrian pear were compared with those of isolates from European and Japanese pear cultivated in Japan. The results from mating experiments showed that Syrian pear isolates were compatible with European pear isolates of V. pyrina to produce ascospores but were sterile with V. nashicola isolates in culture. Interestingly, however, the size and shape of conidia collected from naturally infected leaves of Syrian pear resembled those of V. nashicola. This finding may open the way to study coevolution between pear hosts and Venturia spp. in the future.