First Report of the A2 Mating Type of Phytophthora infestans on Potato in Hungary

Severe symptoms of potato late blight were observed in July 1996 on potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) cv. Desirée grown on a farm in western Hungary. Isolation was made directly from diseased leaf tissues onto selective pea-agar medium. A recovered isolate, H2a, was identified as Phytophthora infestans (Mont.) de Bary on the basis of Koch's postulates and morphological characteristics of the fungus. Pairing of H2a with isolates of known mating types, A1 and A2 from Germany, revealed that it represents the A2 mating type. After a 2-week incubation on pea-agar medium at 20°C, oospores formed in abundance in the region of contact between the colonies of H2a and the A1 mating type isolate. After extended incubation scattered formation of gametangia was observed when isolate H2a had been paired with itself or with the A2 mating type isolate. The same phenomenon of presumed self fertilization also took place when single, zoospore-derived colonies of H2a were combined with one another or with the known A2 isolate. Of an incomplete set of potato differentials, leaves of potato genotypes r, R₂, R₃, R₄, R_1.2.3.4, R₇, R₈, and R₁₁ were all susceptible to infection with a zoospore suspension of the isolate H2a. The complex virulence phenotype of H2a, its tolerance to metalaxyl in agar cultures and on leaf disks (EC₅₀ >100 mg liter^-1), and its A2 mating type behavior collectively suggest that H2a represents a genotype that recently has been introduced into Hungary.