''Cophinforma tumefaciens'' is an

ascomycete Ascomycota is a phylum of the kingdom Fungi that, together with the Basidiomycota, forms the subkingdom Dikarya. Its members are commonly known as the sac fungi or ascomycetes. It is the largest phylum of Fungi, with over 64,000 species. The def ...

fungus that is a

plant pathogen Plant diseases are diseases in plants caused by pathogens (infectious organisms) and environmental conditions (physiological factors). Organisms that cause infectious disease include fungi, oomycetes, bacteria, viruses, viroids, virus-like orga ...

infecting citruses, and other shrubs and trees.

History

It was published in 1911, as ''Sphaeropsis tumefaciens'' with the holotype found on ''

Citrus limon ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the family Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, mandarins, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. ''Citrus'' is native ...

'' in Jamaica. But it was transferred to ''Cophinforma tumefaciens'' in 2021. Due to the generic circumscriptions of the macroconidia and spermatia/microconidia of this species matching that of ''

Botryosphaeria ''Botryosphaeria'' is a genus of pathogenic fungi A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more famil ...

'', '' Cophinforma'', or ''

Neofusicoccum ''Neofusicoccum'' is a genus of fungi in the family Botryosphaeriaceae. Species *'' Neofusicoccum andinum'' *'' Neofusicoccum arbuti'' *''Neofusicoccum australe'' *'' Neofusicoccum carallia'' *'' Neofusicoccum cordaticola'' *'' Neofusicoccum cor ...

'' genera, rather than genus '' Sphaeropsis''.

Description

It can form

galls Galls (from the Latin , 'oak-apple') or ''cecidia'' (from the Greek , anything gushing out) are a kind of swelling growth on the external tissues of plants. Plant galls are abnormal outgrowths of plant tissues, similar to benign tumors or wart ...

(rounded swellings beneath undisturbed bark) on Edison's St. John's-Wort ('' Hypericum edisonianum'' ) in Florida. 'Sphaeropsis gall' also affects holly bushes as well. Many other plant genera in Florida and other places are also known to be affected by this disease, including citrus, lime ('' Citrus aurantifolia''), oleander, holly (''

Ilex ''Ilex'' () or holly is a genus of over 570 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. ''Ilex'' has the most species of any woody dioecious angiosperm genus. The species are evergreen or ...

'' spp.), bottlebrush (''

Callistemon ''Callistemon'' is a genus of shrubs in the family Myrtaceae, first described as a genus in 1814. The entire genus is endemic to Australia but widely cultivated in many other regions and naturalised in scattered locations. Their status as a se ...

'' spp), ''

Carissa ''Carissa'' is a genus of shrubs or small trees native to tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, Australia and Asia. Until recently about 100 species were listed, but most of them have been relegated to the status of synonyms or assigned ...

'',

crape myrtle ''Lagerstroemia'' (), commonly known as crape myrtle (also spelled crepe myrtle or crêpe myrtle), is a genus of around 50 species of deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs native to the Indian subcontinent, southeast Asia, northern Australia ...

, ''

Ligustrum A privet is a flowering plant in the genus ''Ligustrum''. The genus contains about 50 species of erect, deciduous or evergreen shrubs or trees, with a native distribution from Europe to tropical and subtropical Asia, and with one species each ...

'' and the Brazilian Peppertree (''

Schinus terebinthifolius ''Schinus terebinthifolia'' is a species of flowering plant in the cashew family, Anacardiaceae, that is native to subtropical and tropical South America. Common names include Brazilian peppertree, aroeira, rose pepper, broadleaved pepper tree, ...

''). as well as rose bay (''

Nerium oleander ''Nerium oleander'' ( ), commonly known as oleander or rosebay, is a shrub or small tree cultivated worldwide in temperate and subtropical areas as an ornamental and landscaping plant. It is the Monotypic taxon, only species currently classifi ...

'') and avocado (''

Persea americana The avocado, alligator pear or avocado pear (''Persea americana'') is an evergreen tree in the laurel family (Lauraceae). It is native to Americas, the Americas and was first domesticated in Mesoamerica more than 5,000 years ago. It was priz ...

'' ). Other host plantsinclude; ''

Bauhinia ''Bauhinia'' () is a large genus of flowering plants in the subfamily Cercidoideae and tribe Bauhinieae, in the large flowering plant family Fabaceae, with a pantropical distribution. The genus was named after the Bauhin brothers Gaspard and ...

'' spp., ''

Cinnamomum camphora ''Camphora officinarum'' is a species of evergreen tree indigenous to warm temperate to subtropical regions of East Asia, including countries such as China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Korea, and Japan. It is known by various names, most notably the camph ...

'', '' Citrofortunella mitis'', Eucalyptus sp., (including ''

Eucalyptus cinerea ''Eucalyptus cinerea'', commonly known as the Argyle apple, mealy stringbark or silver dollar tree, is a species of small- to medium-sized tree that is Endemism, endemic to south-eastern Australia. It has rough, fibrous bark on the trunk and bran ...

'' and ''

Eucalyptus urophylla ''Eucalyptus urophylla'', commonly known as Timor white gum, Timor mountain gum, popo or ampupu, is a species of eucalypt native to islands of the Indonesian Archipelago and Timor. It is also common in other countries with humid and subhumid t ...

''), ''

Eugenia ''Eugenia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the myrtle family Myrtaceae. It has a worldwide, although highly uneven, distribution in tropical and subtropical regions. The bulk of the approximately 1,100 species occur in the New World tropics, ...

'' sp., ''

Jatropha ''Jatropha'' is a genus of flowering plants in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae. The name is derived from the Greek words ἰατρός (''iatros''), meaning "physician", and τροφή (''trophe''), meaning "nutrition", hence the common name ph ...

'' sp., ''

Lagerstroemia indica ''Lagerstroemia indica'', commonly known as a crape myrtle (also crepe myrtle, crêpe myrtle, or crepeflower), is a species of flowering plant in the genus '' Lagerstroemia'' of the family Lythraceae. It originated in China. It is an often multi ...

'', ''

Mangifera indica ''Mangifera indica'', commonly known as mango, is an evergreen species of flowering plant in the family Anacardiaceae. It is a large fruit tree, capable of growing to a height and width of . There are two distinct genetic populations in modern m ...

'', ''

Morus alba Morus may refer to: People * Alexander Morus (1616–1670), Franco-Scottish Protestant preacher * Henryk Moruś (1943–2013), Polish serial killer * Huw Morus (1622–1709), Welsh poet * Thomas More or Morus (1478–1535), English philosopher * M ...

'', ''

Myrica cerifera ''Myrica cerifera'' is an evergreen tree or large shrub native to North and Central America and the Caribbean. Its common names include southern wax myrtle, southern bayberry, candleberry, bayberry tree, and tallow shrub. It has uses in the garde ...

'', ''

Pittosporum tobira ''Pittosporum tobira'' is a species of sweet-smelling flowering plant in the pittosporum family Pittosporaceae known by several common names, including Australian laurel, Japanese pittosporum, mock orange and Japanese cheesewood. It is native to ...

'', '' Poncirus trifoliate'', '' Portlandia grandiflora'', ''

Pyracantha coccinea ''Pyracantha coccinea'', the scarlet firethorn is the European species of firethorn or red firethorn that has been cultivated in gardens since the late 16th century. The tree has small white flowers. It produces small, bright red berries. Its lea ...

'', ''

Vigna angularis ''Vigna angularis'', also known as the , azuki bean, aduki bean, red bean, or red mung bean, is an annual vine widely cultivated throughout East Asia for its small (approximately long) bean. The cultivars most familiar in East Asia have a un ...

'' and ''

Wisteria sinensis ''Wisteria sinensis'', commonly known as the Chinese wisteria, is a species of flowering plant in the pea family (botany), family, native species, native to China, in the provinces of Guangxi, Guizhou, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Shaanxi, and Yunnan. Gr ...

''. The mycelium have

conidiomata Conidiomata (singular: Conidioma) are blister-like fruiting structures produced by a specific type of fungus called a coelomycete. They are formed as a means of dispersing asexual spores call conidia, which they accomplish by creating the blister- ...

which are pycnidial, superficial or semi-immersed and measureing 135–400 μm in diam. They are solitary or confluent, dark brown to black (in colour), complex, effuse, (sub-)globose, densely covered with dark brown

hyphae A hypha (; ) is a long, branching, filamentous structure of a fungus, oomycete, or actinobacterium. In most fungi, hyphae are the main mode of vegetative growth, and are collectively called a mycelium. Structure A hypha consists of one o ...

. The condia wall is composed of three layers, an outer layer of wall (textura angularis), thick-walled and dark to light brown in shade, the middle layer of cells are thin-walled and light brown. The inner layer of cells are also thin-walled and

hyaline A hyaline substance is one with a glassy appearance. The word is derived from , and . Histopathology Hyaline cartilage is named after its glassy appearance on fresh gross pathology. On light microscopy of H&E stained slides, the extracellula ...

(glass-like). The

conidiophores A conidium ( ; : conidia), sometimes termed an asexual chlamydospore or chlamydoconidium (: chlamydoconidia), is an asexual, non- motile spore of a fungus. The word ''conidium'' comes from the Ancient Greek word for dust, ('). They are also ...

are also hyaline, branched, or reduced to conidiogenous cells. The conidiogenous cells are hyaline, holoblastic (divided into planes), smooth, discrete and cylindrical in form. They measure about 11-20(-24) × 2.5 -4 μm. The conidia are hyaline, thin-walled, aseptate, granular, ellipsoid to obovoid (in form), 18-31.5 × 7.5-10 μm. The

spermatophores A spermatophore, from Ancient Greek σπέρμα (''spérma''), meaning "seed", and -φόρος (''-phóros''), meaning "bearing", or sperm ampulla is a capsule or mass containing spermatozoa created by males of various animal species, especially ...

are hyaline, smooth, branched, or reduced to solitary spermatogenous cells. They occur randomly among the conidiophores in the same conidioma. The spermatogenous cells are ampulliform (flask-shaped) or sub-cylindrical in form. They measure about 8–21 × 2.5–4.5 μm. The spermatia are hyaline, smooth, cylindrical (in form), straight or slightly curved. The apex is obtuse and the base is truncate, measuring 3.5–7.5 × 1.5–2.5 μm. Disease symptoms range from inconspicuous swellings on young twigs to irregular sized galls on older wood. They are usually rounded ( in diam.) but sometimes elongated. These swellings start covered with normal bark which then mutates into a whitish, rough, cork-like tissue, this begins to grow in size, becoming fissured, with much enlarged woody tissue. The knots are firmly attached to the stem or branch, and may occur in large numbers over considerable lengths of stem which may be girdled. The surface of the knot later may become soft and crumbling, but the centre is hard, where the presence of black streaking indicates the presence of

mycelium Mycelium (: mycelia) is a root-like structure of a fungus consisting of a mass of branching, thread-like hyphae. Its normal form is that of branched, slender, entangled, anastomosing, hyaline threads. Fungal colonies composed of mycelium are fo ...

. Multiple shoots can appear from the galled areas, causing a ''witches broom'' type of growth. Galls can form up to 40 shoots, some over 1 m long. Horizontal branches can also ''tip up'' to grow nearly vertically and dieback of infected branches eventually occurs. The knots can occur in large numbers and a severe infection can lead to death of the tree or shrub. The disease is related to water stress, causing more dieback and can cause the plant to eventually die. This often occurs when warm, wet weather follows periods of drought.

Geographic distribution

The disease has been reported as being found in the USA (within Florida), Cameroon,

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

, Cuba, Egypt, Guyana, Indonesia, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela. Also by 2021, it was also found in Japan, Pakistan, West Indies and in Europe (within Austria and Greece).

References

External links

USDA ARS Fungal Database
{{Taxonbar, from=Q122197215 Fungi described in 1911 Fungal citrus diseases Botryosphaeriaceae Fungus species