MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION, PATHOGENECITY AND PARTIAL RDNA SEQUENCE OF Colletotrichum acutatum INFECTING PEAR IN IRAN

Pear fruits (Pyrus communis) with rotting symptoms and orange spore masses were collected in Guilan Province (Rasht), Iran in spring of 2009. Morphological characteristics including shape and size of conidia and appressoria, presence or absence of setae and sclerotia and color and growth rate of colony were studied. Moreover, total DNA was extracted with Chelex 5% method. The ITS1- 5.8S-ITS2 regions of rDNA were amplified and sequenced using ITS1 and ITS4 primers. According to morphological and molecular characteristics the fungus was identified as Colletotrichum acutatum. In pathogenicity test, the species caused fruit rot on wounded and unwounded pear fruits. Based on this study, pear is reported as a new host of C. acutatum for Iran and this is the first report of ITS regions of rDNA of this fungus from Iran on Pear.