Detection and fitness of dicarboximide-resistant isolates of Alternaria alternata from Dendrobium officinale, a Chinese indigenous medicinal herb.

Black spots caused by Alternaria Alternata poses a sever threat to the industry of Dendrobium officinale, a Chinese indigenous medicinal herb. Dicarboximide fungicides (DCFs) are intensively used to control this disease for decades in China, and offering excellent efficacy. The resistance of phytopathogenic pathogens against DCFs are reportedly selected in fields; however, the DCF-resistance of A. alternata from D. officinale is not well understood. The low procymidone-resistant (ProLR) isolates of A. alternata were detected in the commercial orchards of D. officinale in China in 2018 and biochemically characterized in this study. The result showed that the low procymidone-resistant (ProLR) isolates were selected in the commercial orchards with the resistance frequency of 100 %, and no significant difference in mycelial growth, sporulation and virulence was observed among the ProLR and ProS isolates. A positive cross-resistance pattern was exhibited between procymidone and iprodione. Amino acid sequence alignment results of AaOS-1 from the tested isolates showed that all the ProLR genotypes could be categorized into two groups, including group I (mutations at AaOs-1) and group II (no mutation). On procymidone (5.0 μg/ml) treatment condition, the AaOs-1 expression levels increased in the ProS isolates ranged from 2.94~3.69 folds higher than those on procymidone-free condition, while the AaOs-1 expressions of the ProLR isolates were significantly lower than those in the ProS isolates on the same conditions. The data indicated that the mutations at AaOs-1 are involved in the DCF-resistance of A. alternata selected in the D. officinale orchards.