Abstract Text: We discovered that a strain of Fusarium that was isolated from a diseased raspberry in California shared similar secreted in xylem 6 (SIX6) genes with many yellow-fragariae pathotype Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. fragariae (Fof) isolates. We performed whole genome Kmer comparison between these isolates and found that the raspberry Fusarium appeared to be clonally related to many yellow-fragariae Fof isolates. We then successfully detected the raspberry Fusarium using the Burkhardt assay (designed to diagnose yellow-fragariae Fof) (Burkhardt et al., 2018). We conducted a pathogenicity test and found that the raspberry Fusarium caused wilt and plant collapse in strawberry cultivar EX090.188 by 4 weeks post inoculation. This is the first discovery that yellow-fragariae Fof and raspberry Fusarium are close relatives or even identical clones. This study followed our original evidence published in 2024 that blackberry Fusarium is related to wilt-fragariae Fof (Ho et al., 2024). These data will provide valuable information to the strawberry and raspberry industries that will help guide breeding and management strategies.
Burkhardt, A., Henry, P.M., Koike, S.T., Gordon, T.R., Martin, F., 2018. Detection of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. fragariae from Infected Strawberry Plants. Plant Dis. 103, 1006–1013.
Ho, T., Henry, P.M., Buhler, J. 2024. Some strains of the blackberry Fusarium wilt pathogen and the strawberry wilt-fragariae pathotype are clonally related. American Phytopathological Society Annual Meeting, July 27-30, 2024, Memphis, Tennessee.
