Species Associated with Anthracnose of Spp. in China

species are plant pathogens, saprobes, and endophytes on a range of economically important hosts. However, the species occurring on pear remain largely unresolved. To determine the morphology, phylogeny and biology of species associated with plants, a total of 295 samples were collected from cultivated pear species (including , , and ) from seven major pear-cultivation provinces in China. The pear leaves and fruits affected by anthracnose were sampled and subjected to fungus isolation, resulting in a total of 488 isolates. Phylogenetic analyses based on six loci (, and ITS) coupled with morphology of 90 representative isolates revealed that they belong to 10 known species, including , and two novel species, described here as and . Of these, was the most dominant, occurring on and in all surveyed provinces except in Shandong, where was dominant. In contrast, only and were isolated from , with the former being dominant. In order to prove Koch's postulates, pathogenicity tests on pear leaves and fruits revealed a broad diversity in pathogenicity and aggressiveness among the species and isolates, of which , , , and appeared to be organ-specific on either leaves or fruits. This study also represents the first reports of , , , , , and causing anthracnose on pear.