Mycosphaerella Musicola - Characteristics

Characteristics

Sigatoka leaf spot disease (SD) is a disease of bananas and is caused by the ascomycetous fungus, Mycosphaerella musicola. This pathogen can be distinguished morphologically from Mycosphaerella fijiensis, which causes black leaf streak disease (BLSD), by the characteristics of the conidia and conidiophore. The anamorph of M. musicola, Pseudocercospora musae, lacks the thickened cell walls that are present at the base of the conidia of Paracercospora fijien, the anamorph of M. fijiensis, and are shorter and less wavy. The conidiophores of P. musae are bottle-shaped and much smaller than the elongated conidiophores of P. fijiensis which are often bent and bear conspicuous conidial scars. The two species can also be differentiated by molecular methods.

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