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Microbial Genomics and Bioprocessing Research Unit, National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1815 N. University St., Peoria, Illinois, USA 61604
Jeanneth Pérez
El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR), Carretera Antiguo Aeropuerto Km 2.5, Tapachula, 30700 Chiapas, Mexico
Fernando E. Vega
Insect Biocontrol Laboratory, Bldg. 011A, Room 214, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, Maryland, USA 20705-2350
Francisco Infante
El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR), Carretera Antiguo Aeropuerto Km 2.5, Tapachula, 30700 Chiapas, Mexico
| ABSTRACT |
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Penicillium brocae is a new monoverticillate species isolated from coffee berry borers collected at coffee plantations in Mexico near Cacahoatán, Chiapas, and from borers reared on artificial diets at ECOSUR laboratory facilities in Tapachula, Chiapas. Phenotypically, it is in Penicillium series Implicatum, but because it does not conform to known species we have described it as new. ITS and large subunit rDNA were sequenced and compared to determine the phylogenetic position of this species. It is most closely related to Penicillium adametzii. Penicillium brocae has only been found in association with the coffee berry borer and is one of several fungi that grow in coffee berry borer galleries. Penicillium brocae may provide the exogenous sterols necessary for the coffee berry borer's development and thus be mutualistically associated with the insect.
Key words: broca, DNA sequences, fungi, internal transcribed spacer, ribosomal DNA, Scolytidae, Trichocomaceae
| INTRODUCTION |
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As an exotic pest in Mexico, the biology and ecology of the CBB have been extensively studied (Barrera 1994
and references therein) in order to develop pest management methods based on biological control agents. However, little attention has been paid to the microorganisms associated with the CBB and its galleries. This type of study has important implications for future control of this insect. Laboratory experiments demonstrated that the CBB has low fecundity when fed on coffee berry tissues only, but optimum fecundity can be obtained by adding ergosterol to the insect diet (Morales-Ramos et al 2000
). Fusarium solani (Martius) Saccardo growing on the coffee berry tissues produces ergosterol and F. solani conidia are carried on the cuticle of the beetles (Morales-Ramos et al 2000
). On this basis, Morales-Ramos et al (2000)
hypothesized a symbiotic relationship between the fungus and the beetle.
As part of a study aimed at understanding the basic biology of the coffee berry borer, several fungi were isolated from the gut, cuticle and feces of CBB adults obtained from coffee plantations or reared on an artificial diet in the laboratories at ECOSUR (El Collegio de la Frontera Sur). In order to determine the identity of these isolates we have used standard phenotypic identification techniques as well as DNA sequencing. Large subunit rDNA has been used to determine the phylogeny of many fungi including Penicillium (Tuthill et al 2001
) and it was used here in combination with the ITS region because of the extensive database of sequences available (Peterson 2000
). We encountered a number of isolates that we identified as species of Fusarium and Penicillium, but also a group of isolates that did not fit into any of the described species of Penicillium. Because these isolates could not be accommodated in known species, a description and a new name are provided here.
| MATERIALS AND METHODS |
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Adult females were disinfected superficially in a solution of 5% sodium hypochlorite for 5 min and rinsed in sterile distilled water. Afterwards they were submerged in a solution of 0.05% ascorbic acid + 0.05% citric acid for 5 min. Samples from three parts of the borers, i.e., (i) cuticle (50), (ii) gut (50) and (iii) feces (25) were taken and placed in Eppendorf vials containing 100 µL of saline solution. These samples were shaken in ultrasonic cleaners at a frequency of 42 KHz for 10 s.
Ten-µL aliquots from each sample were spread on Petri dishes containing potato-dextrose-agar (PDA) acidified with lactic acid (pH 4.04.5) to inhibit bacterial growth. Samples were incubated at room temperature (ca 30 C) for 7 d. After that time, the colony forming units (CFU) were counted, and the microorganisms were isolated and purified for identification. The origin of the fungal isolates used in this study are listed in Table I.
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DNA extraction
Cultures were grown for 710 d on malt extract agar (MEA) slopes in tubes. The mycelium and the upper 23 mm of agar were excised from the culture tube, placed in a 15 mL tube with 1 g glass bead (0.5 mm diam), 3 mL extraction buffer (Raeder and Broda 1985
) and 3 mL of chloroform-phenol (1:1 v:w). Mycelium was broken by vortex mixing of the sample and glass beads for 4560 s. Proteins were extracted by gentle rocking of the phenol-chloroform-buffer emulsion for 20 min, and DNA was recovered with the aqueous layer after phase-separation centrifugation at ca 2000 g for 5 min. DNA was precipitated by the addition of 1/10 volume of 3 M sodium acetate (pH 6.0) and 1.3 volumes of 95% ethanol. Precipitate was pelleted by centrifugation for 5 min at ca 2000 g. The pellet was redissolved in 200 µL TE/10 buffer (1 mM Tris, 0.1 mM EDTA, pH 8.0), and DNA was adsorbed to a silica matrix in the presence of concentrated NaI (GeneClean, Qbiogene, Carlsbad, California), rinsed and eluted into 250 µL TE/10. Purified DNA was stored at -20 C.
Post-isolation DNA procedures
Amplification of the ITS15.8S rDNA-ITS2-LSU rDNA (ID region, ca 1200 nt) was performed as previously described (Peterson 2000
). Sequencing reactions were performed using Applied Biosystems, Inc. (ABI) BigDye version 2.0. Excess dye was removed by ethanol precipitation and DNA sequences were read on an ABI 3100 DNA sequencer, all according to manufacturer's instructions.
Phylogenetic analysis
DNA sequences were aligned with other Penicillium spp. sequences obtained from GenBank, using CLUSTALW (Thompson et al 1994
). Alignments were further refined using a text editor. Phylogenetic analyses of the aligned sequences were performed using maximum parsimony and maximum likelihood as implemented in PAUP* ver. 4 beta 8 (Swofford 1998
). PAUP* trees were viewed in TREEVIEW (Page 1996
) and final versions were formatted in CorelDraw ver. 9.0. Alignments were deposited in TreeBASE, accession number M1289.
| RESULTS |
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Coloniae crescentes in agaro CYA post septem dies 1722 mm diam, convexae, sulcatae, valide glauco-caeruleo-virides ad caeruleo-glauco-virides (id est caeruelum Medici), conidiogenesis fortis, superficiem velutinosam cum incremento lanoso per mediam partem efficiens, effluvium clarum adest plerumque cum pigmento electro-flavo et dissolubili, sclerotia ver ascomata absunt, color partis aversae pallide ad fusce aureo-flavus (id est flavum primuline ad naphthalene). Incrementum nullum ad 5 C vel 37 C. Conidiophora plerumque ex hyphis basalibus, levia, brevia, non ramosa, 23(4) µm x (10)40150 µm tumore apicali 46(10) µm terminata, phialides 48(10) in verticillis 23 µm x (6)810(12) µm, conidia spherica, tenuiter asperata, 2.53.5(4.5) µm diam formantia.
Colonies grown for 7 d on Czapek's yeast autolysate agar (CYA) (Fig. 1 left) at 25 C attain 1722 mm diam, are slightly convex, 23 mm high centrally, with 48 low sulcations, deep grayish blue-green (R-XLVIII) centrally changing along the radius to near Medici blue (R-XLVIII) and white peripherally, consisting of a tough basal felt of hyphae, sunken ca 1 mm into the agar, sporulating heavily and producing a velutinous surface except the central area that has a lanose white overgrowth, clear exudate moderate to abundant present centrally, soluble pigment amber yellow (R-XVI) usually present and visible 10 mm or more from the colony edge, no sclerotia or ascomata, reverse color primuline yellow (R-XVI) centrally changing to amber yellow and finally naphthalene yellow at the edge.
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When incubated at 5 C or at 37 C, none of the isolates grew nor did the conidia germinate. On G25N medium, colony diam after 7 d at 25 C ranged from (4)79 mm and the appearance of the colonies was very similar to the appearance of colonies grown at 25 C on CYA.
Conidiophores (Figs. 2, 5, 6, 7) arising mostly from basal hyphae, smooth, short, unbranched 23(4) µm [
= 2.8, SD = 0.5] x (10)40150 µm [
= 66, SD = 30.6] terminated by an apical swelling 46(10) µm [
= 5.8, SD = 1.5], bearing whorls of 48(10) phialides 23 µm [
= 2.75, SD = 0.4] x (6)810(12) µm [
= 8.96, SD = 1.5] producing spheroidal, slightly roughened conidia 2.53.5(4.5) µm [
= 2.91, SD = 0.34] diam (Figs. 3, 4, 8).
Holotype. BPI 841763 is a dried culture of NRRL 31472, isolated from feces of a coffee berry borer reared on an artificial diet at ECOSUR, Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico, 28 June 2001 by Jeanneth Pérez.
Etymology. La broca del café is the Spanish name of the coffee berry borer.
Colony color in reverse varied only slightly among the nine isolates of P. brocae, ranging from a pale yellow to a pale golden yellow on CYA. Sulcation of the colonies was well developed in seven of the isolates consisting of 47 long, deep, radial furrows, but two of the isolates had shallow or short radial furrows. Exudate was consistently present on the colonies grown on CYA, but varied by isolate from heavy to slight. Soluble pigment was pale yellow and present in seven of the isolates with two isolates showing no soluble pigment at seven days' growth. Isolate NRRL 31479 differed from the other isolates in producing lanose colonies, and it produced few or no conidia on CYA. Stalk length was fairly consistent with average lengths in the 5090 µm range and extremes were 10 and 200 µm. Vesicle size was fairly consistent near 46 µm, but a small proportion of the vesicles in some isolates were unusually elongated (Fig. 6). The monoverticillate penicillus structure was very consistent in all isolates, with only rare branching of the conidiophores.
Penicillium brocae was isolated eight times from the cuticle of CBB adults and once from the feces of the adults that were collected from coffee plantations in Cacahoatán or reared on artificial diets in laboratories at ECOSUR, Tapachula, Chiapas. In addition to P. brocae, six isolates of P. citrinum, three isolates of P. crustosum, two isolates of P. olsonii (Table I) and an unidentified biverticillate Penicillium species were obtained.
Gallery walls of infested coffee berries examined by SEM revealed the presence of Penicillium brocae (Figs. 7, 8) as well as terverticillate Penicillium species (not shown). Some coffee berry borers were also examined by SEM (Fig. 9). Conidia indistinguishable from those of P. brocae were found near the bases of the setae and asperites.
Phenotypically, Penicillium brocae fits in subgenus Aspergilloides ser. Implicata (Pitt 1979
) on the basis of the monoverticillate conidiophores with terminal vesicles and restricted growth, but the combination of characters present does not fit any of the species in this series (Pitt 1979
). In a synoptic examination of the monoverticillate species, P. brocae resembles Penicillium fellutanum Biourge on the basis of slowly growing colonies, comprised of a low dense hyphal felt, a central hyaline lanose overgrowth on CYA, and the production of an amber yellow soluble pigment. However, P. fellutanum produces larger (1216 mm) G25N colonies than P. brocae (79 mm); conidiophores of P. fellutanum arise from aerial hyphae while those of P. brocae are from basal hyphae; the phialides and conidia of P. fellutanum are smaller than those of P. brocae and the conidia of P. fellutanum are ellipsoidal versus spheroidal in P. brocae.
Penicillium brocae also resembles P. citreonigrum Dierckx, but is distinguished from the latter species, which has olivaceous-gray colony color on CYA and vegetative hyphae that are typically yellow versus the hyaline hyphae of P. brocae. Growth on G25N is 79 mm for P. brocae and conidia are 2.53.5 µm diam, while cultures of P. citreonigrum typically attain 1114 mm diam on G25N and conidia are 1.82.5 µm diam.
Penicillium brocae also resembles P. charlesii G. Sm., but the latter species forms CYA colonies made of a low, dense hyphal felt, and growth rate is moderate to slow, colonies are sulcate, and an amber soluble pigment is produced (Raper and Thom 1949
, Ramirez 1982
). However, P. brocae has spheroidal conidia 2.53.5(4.5) µm formed on unbranched conidiophores, while P. charlesii has ellipsoidal conidia 2.53.0 x 3.04.0 µm produced from branched conidiophores. Also, while the growth of P. brocae is slow on all media, P. charlesii grows rapidly on MEA.
Phylogenetic analysis Of the 1182 base positions in the ID region alignment, 126 characters were eliminated because of insertion/deletion events, 783 characters were constant, 64 variable characters were parsimony-uninformative and 209 characters were parsimony-informative. Heuristic search found 114 equally most parsimonious trees of 783 steps. The tree statistics were consistency index (CI) = 0.4764, homoplasy index (HI) = 0.5236, CI excluding uninformative characters = 0.4193, HI excluding uninformative characters = 0.5807, retention index (RI) = 0.7029 and rescaled consistency index (RC) = 0.3348.
In maximum parsimony analysis, P. brocae is most closely related to P. adametzii Zalessky, P. herquei Bainier & Sartory, P. adametzioides S. Abe ex G. Sm., P. bilaiae Chalab., and E. hirayamae D. B. Scott & Stolk (Fig. 10), but the relatively low bootstrap value (65%) on this clade makes the placement of P. brocae tentative. The strict consensus tree branches of the 114 equally most parsimonious trees are bold (Fig. 10) and show that P. brocae remains in the same clade and in the same relative position to P. adametzii and the other Penicillium species on that branch. A constraint tree under the parsimony model, forcing P. brocae to form a clade with P. charlesii and P. fellutanum or P. citreonigrum was rejected with strong statistical support (P = 0.004) using the Kishino-Hasegawa test.
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| DISCUSSION |
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Penicillium brocae and several other Penicillium and Fusarium species have been isolated from the cuticle of adult coffee berry borers, and also from feces and guts. Morales-Ramos et al (2000)
only isolated Fusarium solani from the cuticle of coffee berry borers, whether collected in Allada, Benin, or in Chiapas. The most readily apparent explanation lies in the different surface sterilization techniques, but other unknown factors may also apply.
Ambrosia beetles (Coleoptera: Scolytidae) are known to have mutualistic associations with fungi that they carry on specialized structures termed mycangia. Once in the plant, the ambrosia fungi grow on galleries made by the beetles, and the insects graze on the fungal hyphae (Batra 1966
). Coffee berry borers do not appear to have mycangia, but the asperites and setae on the pronotum have functional similarity to mycangia (Morales-Ramos et al 2000
). Ergosterol, which is produced by the fungal growth in the beetle galleries, was a necessary factor for the growth and fecundity of the coffee berry borer (Morales-Ramos et al 2000
). Insects feeding their entire life on single food sources, such as the CBB do, are often associated with symbiotic microorganisms that supplement the insects restricted diet with critical nutrients (Bean-Beard et al 2002
). Because we have isolated many different species of fungi from the adult beetles and have observed P. brocae and other Penicillium species in the galleries of coffee berries, and because ergosterol is the principal sterol produced by fungi (Hawksworth et al 1995
), it is possible that the symbiosis of the coffee berry borer is not exclusively with Fusarium species. Penicillium brocae also may be a symbiont that can sustain the growth and development of the coffee berry borer by providing needed sterols.
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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| FOOTNOTES |
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Accepted for publication June 17, 2002.
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