Jin A Lee 1, Seon Young Lee 2, Young-Joon Choi 1,2,*
1Department of Biological Science, Kunsan National University, Gunsan 54150, Korea
2Center for Convergent Agrobioengineering, Kunsan National University, Gunsan 54150, Korea
Correspondence to yjchoi@kunsan.ac.kr
Korean Journal of Mycology (Kor J Mycol) September, 2023, 51(3):245-249.
https://doi.org/10.4489/kjm.20230026
Accepted: August 23, 2023; Revised: August 17, 2023; Received: July 19, 2023
Published: September, 2023.
© 2023 THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF MYCOLOGY.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Prickly lettuce (Lactuca serriola), an invasive annual plant, poses a significant threat to the agricultural systems of many countries, including Korea. In 2020, leaf blight symptoms were observed in the prickly lettuce populations of various farms across Korea. Detailed morphological and molecular sequence analyses revealed that the disease was caused by the fungus, Curvularia intermedia. A pathogenicity test confirmed that the fungus can cause the same symptoms in healthy prickly lettuce, thereby fulfilling Koch’s postulates. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of C. intermedia causing leaf blight on L. serriola in Korea, suggesting its potential as a biocontrol agent for this weed. However, further investigations are necessary to determine its ecological impact to prevent any non-target effects.
Biological control, gpd (glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase), Lactuca scariola, Prickly lettuce