Alternaria solani Causing Leaf Blight Disease on Aster glehni in Korea

Aster glehni Franchet et Schmidt is a compositae plant and has been known as a native specie in Ulleung Island, Korea. It is officially recognized as a regional specialty that grows only in this region. In 2014, brown and dark spots were observed on aster leaves in a forest research field, Jinju, Korea. A causal agent was isolated from the disease symptomatic leaves and identified as fungus Alternaria solani. Fungal morphological characteristics and molecular identification with internal transcribed spacer sequences were synchronized as A. solani. The isolated fungi reproduced the same disease symptoms when the fungus was artificially inoculated on healthy aster leaves. This is the first report that A. solani caused leaf blight disease in Aster glehni in Korea.