Needle blight of pine caused by two species of Dothistroma in Hungary

SummaryDothistroma septosporumandD. pinicause the serious pine needle disease, Dothistroma needle blight (DNB). Of these,D. septosporumhas a global distribution, whileD. piniis known only from the USA, Russia, Ukraine and France. During a study ofD. septosporumisolates fromPinus nigrain Hungary, microsatellite markers revealed the presence of a secondDothistromaspecies. The aim of this study was to identify the DNB pathogens occurring in Hungary using four different molecular techniques. These included sequencing of the rDNA ITS region, a species‐specific ITS‐RFLP, mating type primers and a diagnostic microsatellite marker, Doth_A. Results showed that bothD. septosporumandD. pinioccur in Hungary and that both DNB pathogens were present on the same trees and in some cases, the same needles. Mating types MAT1 and MAT2 ofD. septosporumwere shown to be present in Hungary, but only the MAT2 ofD. piniwas found. In addition, examination of needles with DNB symptoms from Russia revealed the presence ofD. pinionPinus pallasianaandP. nigraas well as on a new host,Pinus mugo. The molecular markers applied in this study were sufficiently robust to identify and differentiate between the two DNB pathogens, both in culture and directly from needles. They will consequently be useful to document the geographical range and to monitor the spread ofD. septosporumandD. piniin future studies.