ITS variants of Fusicladium spp. in OLS symptomatic leaves. OLS symptomatic leaf

The genetic variation of Fusicladium oleaginum, pathogen of olive leaf spot (OLS), and related species associated to olive phyllosphere, was investigated by metabarcoding approach using primers specially designed for this group (between 18S - 28S genes).Due to the highly biotrophyc nature of these fungi, DNA was extracted from infected olive leaves showing typical symptoms of OLS.In this study, the metabarcoding analysis was succesfully used to cover possible ITS variants of F. oleaginum, and simultaneously discard other unrelated fungal species with similar sequence, in order to design more specific primers for a TaqMan detection assay of F. oleaginum directly from olive leaves.