Gnomoniopsis smithogilvyi attacking chestunt Castanea sativa) in Southern Italy. Gnomoniopsis smithogilvyi on chestnut fruits in Southern Italy

Gnomoniopsis smithogilvyi is a fungal pathogen present on chestnut fruits in Italy. Chestnut rot symptoms were found on chestnut fruits in chestnut trees located in Basilicata Region (Southern Italy). In order to determine the causal agent of the infections found on chestnut fruits isolations on PDA media were performed starting from symptomatic fruit tissues. Pure fungal cultures (PFC) were obtained on PDA. Total genomic DNA was extracted from PFC and PCR amplifications were performed with ITS5/ITS4 primers set. Direct sequencing of the PCR products identified the fungus as G. smithogilvyi. BLAST search showed that the fungus was 100% identical to other G. smithogilvyi already deposited into NCBI nucleotide database under the following accession numbers: KC145870; MH865607 and KC145860 of different geographical origins.