Sooty blotch and flyspeck disease of apple: expansion of the fungal complex in Turkey and evaluation of a warning system for the Upper Midwest

Sooty blotch and flyspeck (SBFS) is a disease complex caused by nearly 80 fungal species that blemish the surface of apple fruit, reducing crop value in humid regions worldwide. The severity of SBFS is a concern for apple producers in northeastern Turkey. However, the composition of the SBFS complex in Turkey is unknown. Therefore, the first objective of my research was to isolate and characterize the species assemblage from SBFS infected apples collected in 2008 from the Rize Province, in Turkey. In this study, pressed SBFS colonies with subtending apple cuticle were shipped to Iowa State University for isolation. The internal transcriber spacer (ITS) ribosomal DNA and a portion of the 28S large subunit region (LSU) were compared to previously identified fungi using parsimony analysis. Twelve species were delineated based on parsimony analysis of ITS sequences and morphology. A newly discovered and described species from the survey was Scleroramularia abundans; newly discovered putative species included Zygophiala sp. FS3.3, Stomiopeltis spp. RS7.1 and RS7.2, and Chaetothyriales sp. F1. Previously recovered putative species included Zygophiala sp. FS6 and Stomiopeltis sp. RS4.1. Previously discovered and named SBFS species included Schizothyrium pomi, Zygophiala wisconsinensis, Microcyclosporella mali, Microcyclospora tardicrescens, and Peltaster fructicola. Based on parsimony analysis of the LSU, one species was placed in the subclass Chaetothyriomycetidae and 11 species were placed in subclass Dothideomycetidae. Ten species were placed in the order Capnodiales. This study provided the first documented description of the composition