First Report of Neofabraea actinidiae causing a Cranberry Fruit Rot in Oregon

Cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon, L.) is a commercial small fruit that is native to North America. Oregon ranks fourth in cranberry production in the U.S.A. with 1052 Ha of cranberry beds and annual production of 23,590 metric tonnes (USDA NASS 2021). Cranberry fruit rot diseases are caused by a complex of 15 fungal pathogens belonging to 10 genera (Polashock et al. 2017). In fruit rot surveys of 'Stevens' cranberry beds in Coos and Curry Counties, Oregon, berries were collected before harvest and sorted by symptoms (e.g. softening, shriveling, or discoloration). Cranberries with field rot symptoms were surface-disinfested and lesion margin tissue placed on V8 agar. Cultures were incubated at room temperature and outgrowing fungi were transferred twice onto fresh V8 agar to obtain single isolates. Storage rots that developed on asymptomatic cranberries held at 4°C for 8 weeks were processed similarly. Since 2017, we periodically isolated Neofabraea actinidiae, which is not a member of the cranberry fruit rot complex, from rotted cranberries (Polashock et al. 2017). In 2022, N. actinidiae was isolated from 22% of 45 cranberries collected from an organically managed farm and developed storage rot and from 6% of 50 storage-rot cranberries from three conventionally managed farms. Symptoms associated with N. actinidiae on 'Stevens' cranberries often include softening and brown tissue surrounded by a yellow-colored ring. On V8 agar, N. actinidiae grew as compact white circular colonies with dense aerial hyphae near the center and accompanied by a red pigment in the agar. Pink-colored mucoidal irregular conidiomata often developed on the colony after 3 weeks. Conidia were hyaline, aseptate, and ellipsoidal to fusiform ranging from 7.5 to 12.6 µm long X 3.5 to 5.6 µm wide (n=100). Genomic DNA was extracted from N. actinidiae isolates from cranberries in 2017 and 2022. β-tubulin and the ITS 5/4 region were amplified and sequenced with primers Bt-T2m-Up/Bt-LEV-Lo1 and ITS5/ITS4 using conditions of de Jong et al. (2001) and White et al. (1990), respectively. Sequences were deposited in NCBI Genbank (Accessions: OR606303, OR606305, OR606306, & OR606309 for ITS; OR610314, OR610316, OR610317, & OR610320 for β-tubulin). BlastN analysis of β-tubulin (695 bp) and ITS (489-490 bp) had a 99.6 to 99.8% and 99.8 to 100% identity, respectively, to Neofabraea actinidiae (CBS 121403) (Accession numbers: KR859285 β-tubulin and KR859079 ITS). Phylogenetic analysis of concatenated sequences using Tamura-Nei neighbor-joining (Tamura et al. 2004) confirmed identity of cranberry isolates as N. actinidiae. Koch's Postulates were confirmed with four N. actinidiae isolates from cranberry. Agar or hyphal plugs were placed in a 3 mm wound on the side of six surface-disinfested, asymptomatic berries and incubated in a moist chamber at 20°C for 15 days or 4°C for 55 days. Similar symptoms developed on each berry inoculated with N. actinidiae, but not agar alone. The fungus was recovered from symptomatic tissues and identity confirmed by colony morphology. N. actinidiae causes a ripe rot and storage rot in kiwifruit and is one of the species causing Bull's Eye Rot of pome fruits (Tyson et al. 2019). Cryptosporiopsis actinidiae (anamorph) was isolated from cranberries roots in British Columbia, CA, but considered unlikely to be the causal agent of dieback disease of cranberry vines (Sabaratnam et al. 2009). We have demonstrated that N. actinidiae causes a cranberry fruit rot in beds and in storage. Its prevalence, associated fruit rot symptoms, and disease incidence will continue to be monitored.