Neofusicoccum actinidiae and Neofusicoccum guttata, Two New Species Causing Kiwifruit Rot in China

Kiwi is a popular fruit consumed worldwide. A number of fungal pathogens have been reported to cause postharvest rot of kiwifruit, and Botryosphaeriaceae species are the major causal agents of the disease. In this study, 18 isolates belonging to the genus Neofusicoccum (family Botryosphaeriaceae) were isolated from 247 symptomatic kiwifruits of the cultivars Jinyan, Jintao, and Jinkui collected from orchards in Hubei and Jiangxi provinces, China. Among the isolates, three grouped with various known Neofusicoccum parvum isolates, whereas the remaining 15 formed two independent clades. On the basis of further phylogenetic analyses with concatenated sequences of ITS and three genes encoding translation elongation factor 1-alpha (TEF), beta-tubulin (TUB), and DNA-dependent RNA polymerase II subunit (RPB2), as well as morphological characteristics, two new species, N. actinidiae and N. guttata, were proposed. Their pathogenicity to kiwi, apple, and citrus fruits was also confirmed.