ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Pathogen Interactions
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1661560
Morpho-phylogenic characterization of Neonectria candida as a causal agent of a postharvest rot of pome fruit in the U.S. Pacific Northwest
Provisionally accepted
- Washington State University, Pullman, United States
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Neonectria fruit rot (NFR) is primarily attributed to Neonectria ditissima, the causal agent of European canker, in many apple-growing regions globally. Between 2017 and 2019, NFR-like symptoms were observed in several surveyed apple and pear packinghouses in Washington State and Oregon. In this study, 52 Neonectria isolates were characterized using a multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA), pathogenicity assays, and morphological traits across various growth media and photoperiods. MLSA analysis of four DNA regions, i.e., β-TUB, TEF1, LSU, and ITS rDNA, identified the pathogen as Neonectria candida (syn. Neonectria ramulariae, anamorph Cylindrocarpon obtusiusculum). All the 52 N. candida isolates formed a distinct clade from N. ditissima and other Neonectria spp. with a Bayesian interference posterior probability of 0.98. Fruit pathogenicity assays showed that N. candida isolates caused light brown lesions on 'Fuji' apples and 'Green d'Anjou' pears both at room temperature (22°C) and cold storage (0.5 and 1.5°C), with NFR incidences ranging from 6 to 100% after 15 days to four months. N. candida isolates grew and sporulated profusely under a multitude of nutrient and photoperiod conditions in vitro. This study is a foundational step towards species identification and understanding the biology and epidemiology of NFR to support the development of effective management approaches.
Keywords: Neonectria spp., Cylindrocarpon, pome fruit, Virulence, Fungal pathogen, postharvest, Multilocus sequence analysis
Received: 08 Jul 2025; Accepted: 12 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Mellow, Arifin and Amiri. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Achour Amiri, Washington State University, Pullman, United States
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