Fungal diversity in cassava leaf tissues with symptoms of superelongation disease. Cassava mycobiome in the Caribbean

Symptomatic cassava leaf samples were taken from sites in four Caribbean islands, Barbados, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica. Disease symptoms included small, circular or irregular shaped, chlorotic leaf spots which were visible on the leaf lamina. Some leaf spots had dry necrotic centers. DNA was extracted from these leaves and next generation sequencing of the internal transcribe spacer 1 and 2 (ITS 1 and ITS 2) were used to identify S. manihoticola and other fungal taxa associated with this pathogen.