Analysis of fungal community associated to emerging adults of D. kuriphilus from galls on Castanea sativa trees. Fungal community associated to Dryocosmus kuriphilus

The diversity of fungal community associated to emerged adults of Dryocosmus kuriphilus was studied by means of HTS analysis. Ascomycota dominated the fungal core community. The functional guilds of the 90 taxa forming the core-biome were assessed, evidencing three main groups: saprotroph, plant pathogens and entomopathogens. Twenty-nine OTU’s out of 90 were resolved at species level identifying 26 different fungal species. Among these species, many were cosmopolitan or recorded in Europe. Ten taxa were already recorded on chestnut, including some recognized plant pathogens associated to leaves and green tissues such as Epicoccum nigrum, Gnomoniopsis castanea, Colletotrichum acutatum, Stromatoseptoria castaenicola, Ramularia endophylla. Beauveria bassiana and, out of the core biome, Fusarium larvarum represented the most abundant entomopathogenic species. Some of these species are known to impact directly or indirectly the vitality of the insects into the galls. Based on the present study, an active role of D. kuriphilus in the dispersal of chestnut fungal endophyte/pathogens cannot be demonstrated but either ruled out.