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Characterization of Blue Mold Penicillium Species Isolated from Stored Fruits Using Multiple Highly Conserved Loci

Guohua Yin1,2, Yuliang Zhang3, Kayla K Pennerman4

  • 1Key Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Resources of Tropical Crops, Ministry of Agriculture, Institute of Tropical Bioscience and Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, Haikou 5711001, China. guohuayin1997@gmail.com.

Journal of Fungi (Basel, Switzerland)
|January 27, 2018
PubMed

Insights

Accurate identification of Penicillium species causing postharvest rots is challenging. Molecular markers like ITS, benA, and CaM aided species identification, but intraspecific variability and data errors persist.

Area of Science:

  • Mycology
  • Plant Pathology
  • Molecular Biology

Background:

  • Penicillium molds are common, with over 400 species, many causing postharvest rots.
  • Accurate identification of Penicillium species is crucial but challenging, especially for rot-causing fungi.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To identify blue rot fungi isolated from stored apples and pears.
  • To evaluate the effectiveness of molecular markers for Penicillium species identification.

Main Methods:

  • Isolation and characterization of blue rot fungi from various hosts, locations, and years.
  • Provisional identification using morphological, cultural, and β-tubulin gene sequencing.
  • Further identification using multiple DNA markers (ITS, benA, CaM, RPB2) and comparison with GenBank sequences.

Main Results:

  • Isolates were identified as Penicillium expansum, P. solitum, P. carneum, and P. paneum.
  • ITS, benA, and CaM markers effectively distinguished most isolates at the species level.
  • RPB2 amplification failed for some isolates, and sequence comparisons revealed intraspecific variability and potential GenBank data errors.

Conclusions:

  • Molecular markers ITS, benA, and CaM are valuable for Penicillium species identification in postharvest rots.
  • Significant intraspecific variability and potential inaccuracies in public sequence databases necessitate careful interpretation of results.
Keywords:
CaMITSPenicillium spp.benAblue moldsstored fruits

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