Teratosphaeria destructans in Australia; Biosecurity threat or

elusive native pathogen?

V. Andjic1,4,M. Glen3, B. Dell1, M.J. Wingfield2, G. E. StJ. Hardy1, Treena Burgess1

1School of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Murdoch University, Murdoch, 6150, Australia2Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute, University of Pretoria, 0002, South Africa

3 CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, Private Bag 12, Hobart, 7001, Australia4 Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service, Perth International Airport, 6105, Australia

Email: vera.andjic@daff.gov.au

Eucalypts as plantations species

Native to Australia, few species found in Papua New Guinea, parts of Indonesia and Philippines.

Introduced from Australia to other parts of the world. Highly favoured plantation species (fast growing), provides pulp for paper industry.

To meet world demand for pulp and paper many commercial plantations have been established outside of Australia where eucalypts were grown as exotic species.

Many species trials have been established for genetic selection which led to clonal forestry that resulted in diseases outbreaks.

Teratosphaeria destructans=Phaeophleospora destructans=Kirramyces destructans

is a devastating eucalypt leaf pathogen first described by (Wingfield & Crous, 1996) from 1-3 years old Eucalyptus grandis in Sumatra, Indonesia.

2000-2001 has been reported from nurseries and young plantations in Thailand and Vietnam.

2003-2005 T. destructans has been reported from native E. urophylla in East Timor and production nurseries in China.

Symptoms caused by T. destructans include:

leaf distortion blight of young leaves, buds and shoots severe defoliation of juvenile leaves on trees

Objective:

To determine the population diversity anddistribution of T. destructans in south-east Asia using multi gene phylogeniesand microsatellite markers.

CMW11687CMW17916

CMW17919-ChinaCMW19909-ChinaCMW19832-IndonesiaCMW17918-IndonesiaCMW15089-VietnamCMW15090-VietnamCMW16123-ThailandCMW13337-Thailand

T. destructans

T. eucalypti99

100

100

ITS-EF-BT-CHS-ATP6(over 2000bp ) not a single bp difference

2005

From 2003-2006 regular surveys were conducted in Northern Australia. A devastating disease was observed and thought to be caused by T. destructans.

However, the phylogenetic and morphological studies revealed that the Teratosphaeria sp. associated with these symptoms represents a new taxon described as Teratosphaeria viscidus.

CMW11687CMW17916

CMW17919-ChinaCMW19832-IndonesiaCMW15092-VietnamCMW16120-Thailand

T. destructans

T. eucalypti99

100

100

MUCC452 – AustraliaMUCC453 – AustraliaMUCC454 - AustraliaMUCC455 - Australia

T. viscidus

100

100

ITS-EF-BT12 fixed polymorphic sites

2006

In 2007, T. destructans was reported from the Tiwi Island and Derby in Australia.

CMW11687CMW17916 T. eucalypti99

100

100

99

CMW17919-ChinaCMW19832-IndonesiaCMW15092-VietnamCMW16120-Thailand

DFR1168 – East Timor DFR1169 – East Timor

TI8 – Tiwi’s, NT TIC3 – Tiwi’s, NT

TI15 – Tiwi’s, NTTIC2 – Tiwi’s, NTTI28 – Tiwi’s, NT

TID3 – Tiwi’s, NTTIF1 – Tiwi’s, NT

B1d – Derby, WAB3a – Derby, WAB3b – Derby, WA

MUCC452 - Mareeba, QLDMUCC453 – Mareeba, QLDMUCC454 - Mareeba, QLDMUCC455 - Mareeba, QLD

T. viscidus100

85

89

75

78100 T. destructans

ITS-EF-BT6 bp differences across Asian and Australian isolates

2007

Haplotype network based on sequence data from threenuclear genes (ITS, EF1-α and β-tubulin) and theflanking regions from 3 microsatellite loci (VA1, VA2 andVA13). Colours correspond to collection location asshown on the map. Only 20 representative isolates wereincluded fromAsian collections (yellow).

61

12 3

30

2

830

2008

VA1 VA2 VA13 DIVERSITY(%)

CHINA (30) A A A 0.0

THAILAND (12) A A A 0.0

VIETNAM (14) A A A

INDONESIA (61) A A-C A 3.2

TIMOR (2) A-B C A

DERBY (8) C D B-C 28.5

TIWI (30) D-G E-I D-I 32.1

NO. HAPLOTYPES 7 9 9

Conclusions:

Diversity in Northern Australia much greater than that in Asia suggests T. destructansoriginates from Australia.

However, it is possible that the isolates from Derby and Tiwi Islands could be discrete species or part of a continuum that is T. destructans.

If cryptic species, then Teratosphaeria destructans would still be considered a biosecurity threat.

Further studies are required to determine if T.destructans is a biosecurity threat or an elusuve native pathogen.

Meanwhile new diseases are emerging in Australia caused by other Teratosphaeria spp. which are impacting on productivity of sub-tropical eucalypt plantations.

2010

Good bye!

Acknowledgments:

This work was funded in part by the AustralianResearch Council DP0343600 and DP0664334. Vera Andjic is a recipient of a MurdochUniversity Doctoral Research Scholarship. We also acknowledge funding from variousgrants to the University of Pretoria linked totree protection research and a collaborativeresearch agreement linking the University ofPretoria and Murdoch University. P. Barber and P. Dolok Saribu are thanked forcollecting isolates from Indonesia. Mike Wingfield and Bernie Dell for photos.