Identification of Powdery Mildew Pathogen and Ribosomal DNA-ITS Sequence Analysis on Melon

Identification of powdery mildew pathogens on melon (Cucumis melo) is important for melon breeding and disease-resistant germplasm selection. In this study, a powdery mildew pathogen that infected melon plants in Heilongjiang Province, China, was investigated in terms of host identification, morphological characteristics and phylogenetic relationships. The morphological characteristics of the pathogen were observed at five phases in the life cycle: germinating conidia, primary germ tube, hyphae, conidiophores, and colonization. The conidia were elliptical, colorless, catenulate, and the average length was 29.07 µm and average width was 17.82 µm. One ascus and eight ascospores were produced. DNA was extracted from 0.01 g conidiophores from a strain of powdery mildew pathogen that infected melon. ITS ribosomal DNA region (524 bp) was amplified with the universal ITS1 and ITS4 primers. The nucleotide sequence showed 100% similarity with ITS sequences for three Podosphaera fusca strains obtained from the GenBank database. The identity of the pathogen was confirmed as Sphaerotheca fuliginea. International standard differential hosts were used to identify S. fuliginea strain as 2F race. These results supported the notion that Podosphaera fusca was a synonym of S. fuliginea.