2023/02/05 by Wuyun Lv, Yating Yu, Xiaofang Zhong +3
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Mycotoxins in Agriculture and Food #Plant Pathogens and Fungal Diseases #Plant-Microbe Interactions and Immunity
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/ppa.13711
openalex publication_date 2023/02/05 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/27
Abstract The tea plant ( Camellia sinensis ) is widely cultivated worldwide as one of the most popular non‐alcoholic beverage crops. Cladosporium , the dominant endophytic genus of leaves, possesses a variety of biotransformation and metabolic abilities to promote the accumulation of secondary metabolites. However, Cladosporium species in tea leaves remain unexplored. In this study, a total of 79 Cladosporium isolates were obtained from the leaves of several tea varieties in China. Multilocus phylogenetic analysis and morphological characteristics revealed six known species, namely, C . angulosum , C . anthropophilum , C . halotolerans , C . perangustum , C . tenuissimum and C . xanthochromaticum , and one novel species named C. camelliae . C . angulosum was the most dominant species, and the other six species were newly recorded in tea plants. Pathogenicity tests showed no obvious symptoms of disease in tea leaves caused by 13 representative strains of these seven Cladosporium species. Subsequently, three frequently used fungicides were tested, including chlorothalonil, pyraclostrobin and thiophanate‐methyl. The EC 50 values against C . tenuissimum were 19.14, 0.548 and 3.796 μg/mL, respectively. Based on these EC 50 values, the inhibition effects of the three fungicides on six strains from six species ( C . angulosum , C . anthropophilum , C . camelliae , C . perangustum , C . tenuissimum and C . xanthochromaticum ) were further compared. Pyraclostrobin had the strongest inhibitory effects on the mycelial growth of Cladosporium , followed by thiophanate‐methyl, and chlorothalonil showed the weakest inhibitory effect. The results provide a basis for understanding endophytic Cladosporium fungi in tea leaves.