The two most devastating diseases of cacao (Theobroma cacao)--the source of chocolate--in tropical America are caused by the fungi Crinipellis perniciosa (witches' broom disease) and Moniliophthora roreri (frosty pod rot or moniliasis disease). Despite the agricultural, socio-economic and environmental impact of these fungi, most aspects of their life cycles are unknown, and the phylogenetic re...

Fungal endophytes were isolated from healthy stems and pods of Theobroma gileri, an alternative host of the frosty pod rot pathogen of cacao. Non-sporulating isolates were grouped into 46 different morphological species according to their colony morphology. Many of these morphospecies were assumed to be basidiomycetes and, therefore, were of particular interest. Basidiomycetous endophytes have ...

Witches' broom disease (WBD) is caused by the hemibiotrophic basidiomycete fungus Crinipellis perniciosa, which is one of the most important diseases of cocoa in the western hemisphere. In this study, the contents of soluble sugars, amino acids, alkaloids, ethylene, phenolics, tannins, flavonoids, pigments, malondialdehyde (MDA), glycerol, and fatty acids were analysed in cocoa (Theobroma cacao...

The phytopathogenic fungus Moniliophthora perniciosa (Stahel) Aime & Philips-Mora, causal agent of witches' broom disease of cocoa, causes countless damage to cocoa production in Brazil. Molecular studies have attempted to identify genes that play important roles in fungal survival and virulence. In this study, sequences deposited in the M. perniciosa Genome Sequencing Project database were ana...

ABSTRACT Ceratocystis cacaofunesta (formerly C. fimbriata) causes a lethal wilt disease of cacao (Theobroma cacao) in the Caribbean and Central and South America. Recent studies employing phylogenetics, intersterility, and host range separate the cacao pathogen from other strains of the C. fimbriata complex. Ceratocystis wilt has been managed through genetic resistance, but the disease is an em...

Abstract Jujube witches' broom (JWB) phytoplasmas parasitize the sieve tubes of diseased phloem and cause an excessive proliferation axillary shoots from dormant lateral buds to favour their transmission. In previous research, two JWB effectors, SJP1 SJP2, were identified induce bud outgrowth by disrupting ZjBRC1-mediated auxin flux. However, pathogenesis disease remains largely unknown. Here, ...