• Asian Journal of Turfgrass Science
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.165-169
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• 2010

Fusarium circinatum is the causal agent of the pine disease commonly referred to as pitch canker. In this study, F. circinatum was isolated from the diseased Pinus rigida in the golf courses, Korea. The morphological characteristics and the molecular features of the isolates were investigated to identify the pathogen. Histone H3 gene and IGS rDNA region was analyzed and consequently the isolates identified as F. circinatum. All of them have the same sequences and the mating type was determined as MAT1-1. The inhibitory effect of the methanol extracts from the disease resistant pine species, Pinus koraiensis and Pinus densiflora and a susceptible species, P. rigida were evaluated against the isolate, F. circinatum. As a result, the extracts of P. koraiensis and P. densiflora showed higher antifungal activity than that of the susceptible, P. rigida.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.112-117
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• 2008

Pre-infection behavior of Fusarium circinatum on stems of pine species was investigated with scanning electron microscopy. Two-year-old stems of Pinus densiflora and p. rigida were inoculated with the fungal conidial suspension and subjected to $25^{\circ}C$ for up to 16 hr. Most microconidia germinated 12 hr after inoculation on pine stems. Conidia produced germ tubes from either one or both ends of microconidia. Germ tubes grew over the stem surface and appeared to enter host tissues through natural openings on pine stems. Surface cracks in the cork were entrance sites of germ tubes of F. circinatum. In addition, host cell wall cracks were often found at the tip of germ tubes. The cuticle appeared to be eroded either at the tip of germ tubes or around germlings. Germ tubes also produced appressoria-like structures, exhibiting swollen tips of germ tubes on the stem surface. There seems to be no significant differences in the pre-infection behavior of F. circinatum on stems between the two pine species.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.299-305
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• 2010

A half-sib family of two 4-year-old seedlings of Pinus $\times$ rigitaeda was inoculated with each of 20 Pinus thunbergii isolates of Fusarium circinatum (syn. Fusarium subglutinans f. sp. pini) from two pitch canker damaged sites in Jeju Island, South Korea. Initial symptoms of needle damages were visible on most of the seedlings at 18 days after inoculation. The 20 tested isolates were not significantly different in virulence, based on lesion lengths at the site of inoculation (P = 0.217). The most virulent isolate FT-7 showed the longest lesion length. Some seedlings began to die 46 days after inoculation. All seedlings were dead by 68 days after inoculation except two seedlings inoculated with each of isolates FS-2 and FS-13, respectively. Using the FT-7, 38-year-old 11 P. $\times$ rigitaeda trees, which were survived from a seed orchard severely damaged by pitch canker, were inoculated on branches in the seed orchard in Jeju Island to assess differences in susceptibility to pitch canker. The 11 trees differed significantly (P < 0.001) in susceptibility to F. circinatum based on average lesion lengths measured 56 days after inoculation. It is possible that induced resistance contributed to their capacity to limit lesion development. The susceptibility of natural selection P. $\times$ rigitaeda trees are more likely affected by interaction with F. circinatum rather than environmental conditions.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.177-183
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• 2011

Four-year-old seedlings of Pinus thunbergii, Pinus densiflora and Pinus rigida were inoculated with Fusarium circinatum isolate (FT-7), the pitch canker fungus, from P. thunbergii, to evaluate the effects of the pathogen on disease development and gas exchange rate. Needle dehydration was evident on 2 of 10 seedlings of P. thunbergii and P. rigida at 18 and 21 days after inoculation, respectively, while no symptoms were observed in P. densiflora seedlings throughout the experiment. Gas exchange stopped completely in 4 of 5 measured seedlings of P. thunbergii and 2 of 5 measured seedlings of P. rigida at 25 days after inoculation, and in the remaining 3 seedlings of P. rigida at 39 days after inoculation. Disease development in P. thunbergii seedlings was faster than that in P. rigida seedlings. By the time, the experiment was ended at 78 days after inoculation, 9 of 10 seedlings of P. rigida and 8 of 10 seedlings of P. thunbergii seedlings treated with FT-7 was almost dead, but all seedlings of P. densiflora were still healthy. We suggest that P. densiflora is resistant to F. circinatum in the current study, and gas exchange rate of the species after inoculation does not differ significantly compared to that of untreated control.

• Korean Journal of Breeding Science
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.420-428
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• 2009

In this study, the variation of 20 Pinus thunbergii isolates of F. circinatum from 2 damaged sites in Jeju-Island were compared with a known Fusarium circinatum using molecular biological techniques. Two- and four-year-old seedlings of Pinus rigida${\times}$Pinus x rigitaeda and two-, three- and six-year-old seedlings of P. thunbergii were inoculated with one of the most virulent isolates, FT-7, to determine differences in susceptibility. In site 1 (FT), 13 isolates of F. circinatum were isolated from 14 individuals and in site 2 (FS), 7 isolates of F. circinatum were isolated from 9 individuals. No difference was found in the sequences of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the ribosomal RNA genes in the FS and FT isolates, and also even in the known isolate of F. circinatum, FE 1-1. However, the ITS sequences of the FS and FT isolates differed from those of a fungus, Botrytis cinerea. Two-year-old seedlings of P. rigida${\times}$P. x rigitaeda showed higher susceptibility (93.3% of mortality) than four-year-old ones. Three-year-old seedlings of P. thunbergii showed the highest susceptibility (66.7% of mortality) compared to those at other ages in the same species. We found a positive correlation between basal diameter and lesion length in the seedlings of P. rigida${\times}$P. x rigitaeda ($R^2=0.66$) and P. thunbergii (p < 0.0001), respectively. There were significant differences in susceptibility by the age of seedlings in each of P. rigida${\times}$P. x rigitaeda (p < 0.0001) and P. thunbergii (p < 0.0001) based on lesion length.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.394-401
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• 2010

Resin flow, symptom development, and lignin biosynthesis in response to wounding and fungal inoculation were investigated in Pinus rigida and Pinus densiflora. The two-year-old seedling stems were subjected to three types of treatments: (i) wounding without inoculation, (ii) wound-inoculation with a conidial suspension of Fusarium circinatum, and (iii) pre-wounding woundinoculation with the fungus 20 days after the initial wounding. Resin flow from wounding sites was more evident in P. rigida than P. densiflora in all treatments. The wound-inoculation with the fungus induced almost two-fold higher levels of resin flow than the other treatments in both species. The pre-wounding woundinoculation appeared to result in a decrease in pitch canker development in the two pine species. Some reductions in disease severity were observed in the prewounding wound-inoculated P. rigida, showing a mean disease severity of less than 85%, compared with approximately 100% in the wound-inoculated stems. Disease severity was approximately 50% in the woundinoculated P. densiflora, whereas 10% in the pre-wounding wound-inoculated stems. Higher amounts of lignin were found from bark (ca. 40%) than from xylem (ca. 30%). The wound-inoculated bark and the pre-wounding wound-inoculated bark exhibited higher amounts of lignin among the other treatments. These results suggest that the wound-inoculation apparently prompt the increase in resin flow and lignin biosynthesis from the two pine species, and the prior wounding may be involved in decreased disease severity against the further invasion of F. circinatum.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.326-329
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• 2015

Fusaric acid is a mycotoxin produced by species of the fungus Fusarium and can act synergistically with other Fusarium toxins. In order to develop a specific detection method for fusaric acid-producing fungus, PCR primers were designed to amplify FUB10, a transcription factor gene in fusaric acid biosynthetic gene cluster. When PCR with Fub10-f and Fub10-r was performed, a single band (~550 bp) was amplified from F. oxysporum, F. proliferatum, F. verticillioides, F. anthophilum, F. bulbicola, F. circinatum, F. fujikuroi, F. redolens, F. sacchari, F. subglutinans, and F. thapsinum, all of which were known for fusaric acid production. Whereas the FUB10 specific band was not amplified from Fusarium species known to be trichothecene producer. Because production of fusaric acid can co-occur in species that also produce fumonisin mycotoxins, we developed a multiplex PCR assay using the FUB10 primers as well as primers for the fumonisin biosynthetic gene FUM1. The assay yielded amplicons from fumonisin producers such as F. proliferatum and F. verticillioides, allowing for the simultaneous detection of species with the genetic potential to produce both types of mycotoxins.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.26-35
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• 2013

This study was conducted to select superior provenances of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) well adapted to Korean environment for timber production. In 1976, twenty-two provenances of Scots pine were introduced from Sweden and the seeds were sown in seed beds in March. After one year, the seedlings were transplanted to nursery beds. The resulting 1-1 seedlings of 22 provenances were planted at Whaseong in 1978. Randomized complete block design with 3 replications were used for test plantation. Each provenance was planted with 20-tree row plot in each block and at a spacing of $1.8{\times}1.8m$. The growth performance of each provenance was monitored up to 33-years after planting. There were significant differences among provenances in volume growth. F3001 provenance showed the best volume growth of 33-years after planting ($0.160m^3$), which was 2.2 times greater than that of the lowest provenance W2027 ($0.072m^3$). The ranking of provenances was stabilized after 14 years. Comparing to reference tree species, Japanese red pine (Pinus densiflora), all Scots pine provenances showed poor growth performance. In other words, volume growth of Japanese red pine at age 28 and 33 were 2.1 and 3.3 times greater than that of Scots pine, respectively. Moreover, survival rate of Scots pine was lower than that of Japanese red pine. Based on these results, it was suggested that Scots pine was not suitable to Korean environments. The cause of maladaptation of Scots pine and the implications of introduction breeding were discussed.