Lasiodiplodia theobromae asociado a manchas foliares en Musa acuminata empleando la región ITS en ADN fúngico

Lasiodiplodia theobromae is a multiphytopathogenic fungus that infects various agricultural crop species, including more than one banana cultivar. However, to date, its association with leaf spots has not been reported. The objective of this study was to determine the association of Lasiodiplodia theobromae with leaf spots in Musa acuminata using the ITS region in fungal DNA. Consensus sequences of the ITS region of two Lasiodiplodia spp. strains (C1-LT-HM and C2-LT-HM) were analyzed. These strains were previously morphologically characterized from isolates obtained from leaf spots of Musa acuminata. The sequences, with 409 and 183 base pairs, respectively, were entered into the BLAST tool to search for similar sequences available in the NCBI gene bank. Subsequently, a phylogenetic tree was constructed using MEGA v.11 software to analyze evolution and group clades. The sequences of C1-LT-HM and C2-LT-HM were found to show similarities with 12 Lasiodiplodia theobromae sequences available in the genebank. Furthermore, the sequence of strain C1-LT-HM clustered in a clade with a Lasiodiplodia theobromae sequence from the genebank, whereas the sequence of strain C2-LT-HM clustered independently with ancestors of this species. This study constitutes the first report on the association of Lasiodiplodia theobromae with banana leaf spots in Peru, using the ITS region in fungal DNA as a molecular tool for pathogen identification.