Morphological and Molecular Identification and Mating Type Detection of Chalkbrood Fungal Pathogen Ascosphaera apis in Apis mellifera L. in Southern India

Authors

  • V. Karthik Department of Agricultural Entomology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore 641003, Tamil Nadu
  • M R Srinivasan Department of Agricultural Entomology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore 641003, Tamil Nadu
  • V. R. Saminathan Department of Agricultural Entomology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore 641003, Tamil Nadu
  • S. Karthikeyan Centre for Post Harvest Technology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore 641003, Tamil Nadu
  • V. Balasubramani Department of Agricultural Entomology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore 641003, Tamil Nadu

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.55446/IJE.2024.2198

Keywords:

Apis mellifera, fungal pathogen, Ascosphaera apis, identification, morphology, SEM analysis, ITS, multiplex PCR, mating types, spore cysts, spore balls, ascospores

Abstract

Chalkbrood Ascosphaera apis is a fungal brood pathogen that exerts considerable biotic stress on honey bees worldwide. Chalkbrood was noticed at Coimbatore in Apis mellifera colonies for the first time. Precise identification of the fungal pathogen and their mating types is crucial to develop effective disease management strategies. Hence, the present study aimed to isolate and identify fungal pathogen morphologically and genomically. Scanning Electron Microscopic (SEM) analysis was done and confirmed the essential morphological characteristics of the isolated fungus such as spore cysts (51-86 µm in diameter), spore balls (8-15 µm in diameter), and ascospores (1.7-2.6 µm in length). Molecular characterization using internal transcribed sequence (ITS)-PCR of the fungal isolate indicated 99-100% sequence similarity to A. apis. In addition, the multiplex PCR assay was performed and the mating types MAT1-1 and MAT1-2 were successfully detected and named TNAU CBD MAT1 and TNAU CBD MAT2, respectively.

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Published

2024-08-06

How to Cite

Karthik, V., Srinivasan, M. R., Saminathan, V. R., Karthikeyan, S., & Balasubramani, V. (2024). Morphological and Molecular Identification and Mating Type Detection of Chalkbrood Fungal Pathogen <i>Ascosphaera apis</i> in <i>Apis mellifera</i> L. in Southern India. Indian Journal of Entomology, 1–7. https://doi.org/10.55446/IJE.2024.2198

Issue

Online First

Section

Research Articles
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Europe PMC

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