2025/07/10 by Kylee Soltez, Douglas E. Soltis, Brantlee Spakes Richter · 1 voice
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Plant Pathogens and Fungal Diseases #Powdery Mildew Fungal Diseases #Yeasts and Rust Fungi Studies
paper · doi:10.1094/pdis-08-24-1643-re
openalex publication_date 2025/07/10 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/11
Tea, Camellia sinensis, is a globally important crop plant that is currently under investigation for production in the Southeastern United States. Both in the United States and in traditional tea production regions, one of the most damaging diseases of tea is anthracnose, or brown blight, caused by various species of Colletotrichum. In the United States, only a single species had previously been reported on tea, whereas at least 12 species are known to cause disease in other regions, raising the question: Is the absence of additional species in U.S.-grown tea caused by differences between U.S. and Asian pathogen populations, or simply due to the limited acreage and duration of tea production in North America? We conducted a survey of Colletotrichum spp. in tea, in targeted plants likely to share pathogens with tea (ornamental camellias and blueberry), and in weeds around all three target hosts and conducted subsequent pathogenicity tests with representative isolates on tea. We identified 22 new host–fungus combinations for Colletotrichum species in the United States, 21 of which are also first reports globally. Further, we confirmed a second species of Colletotrichum causing anthracnose on tea in the United States, isolated Colletotrichum camelliae from multiple unrelated hosts, and demonstrated that isolates of both species recovered from other hosts are capable of causing disease on tea.