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BY KAREN GRAHAM (/USER/843083)
MAR 25, 2016

SCIENCE (/?DID=51)

A fungus that causes frosty pod rot in cacao

trees clones itself
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The fungus that causes frosty pod rot in cacao trees, the source of chocolate,
reproduces by cloning say researchers at Purdue University.

Moniliophthora roreri is a basidiomycete fungus that causes frosty pod rot disease,
one of the most serious problems for cacao production in Latin America.

M. roreri, along with M. perniciosa, the cause of witches' broom disease, and black
pod rot, caused by Phytophthora species, make up what is called the cacao disease
trilogy. M. roreri has caused serious crop losses
(http://www.plantvillage.org/en/topics/cocoa-
cacao/diseases_and_pests_description_uses_propagation) because of the ease with
which its spores are spread.

(/image/289391)
Frosty pod rot on Cacao tree.
Ruth Maloney

Perhaps because M. roreri belongs to a group of fungi that produce mushrooms,

the fruit of fungal sex, it has long been thought that this fungus reproduced
sexually. However, according to Science News Online
(http://www.sciencenewsline.com/news/2016032215460035.html), the study by
Purdue mycologists showed that M. roreri generates billions of cocoa pod-
destroying spores by cloning, even though the fungus has two mating types.

"This fungus is phenomenally unusual - it has mating types but doesn't undergo
sexual reproduction," said Jorge Díaz-Valderrama, a doctoral student in mycology,
according to a news release
(http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2016/Q1/fungus-that-threatens-
chocolate-forgoes-sexual-reproduction-for-cloning.html)from Purdue University.
"This knowledge is biologically and economically valuable as we seek better insights
into how mushrooms come about and how we can reduce this disease's damage to
the cocoa industry."

Growing cacao trees for their cocoa can be a risky business in a lot of ways. The
farms are usually small, and because of the instability of cocoa prices, and the high
cost of fungicides, most growers forgo them. Instead, they monitor the crop
carefully, removing the pods and burying them if they show the telltale signs of
frosty pod rot.

(/image/275047)
A Waorani indigenous woman eats a cacao
fruit in Gareno, Ecuador
Pablo Cozzaglio, AFP

Frosty pod rot has spread all through Latin America in the past 50 to 60 years,
unwittingly carried by transporting of infected pods, the wind and especially the
heavy rains. The disease has devastated some plantations, causing growers to
abandon their lands.

Brazil is the only cocoa-producing country in the Americas that has avoided the
disease. This is also why much of the world's cocoa production has moved to West
Africa, although these regions are also susceptible to the disease.

The research team realized that fungal reproduction can be complicated because
instead of male and female sexes, they can also have a variety of mating types, and
this leads to a wide range of potential mates, up to 20,000 in some species. Others,
under favorable conditions, reproduce clonally, just by copying their genome and
creating billions of o!spring.

When Catherine Aime, an associate professor of mycology, and Díaz-Valderrama

dug into the genomics and population genetics of M. roreri, they discovered the
fungus could reproduce sexually. The only problem was that there was no evidence
that M. roreri had ever reproduced in the "eld or in a laboratory setting. An M.
roreri mushroom has never been found, indicating the fungus had ditched
reproducing sexually in favor of cloning.

"Fungi usually start reproducing via cloning when they're very well suited for their
environment," said Aime, "In terms of resources, sex is expensive while cloning is a
cheap and easy way to produce a lot of o!spring."
 (/image/289392)
Because of the prevalence of frosty pod rot
in Central America, cacao production has
moved to West Africa.
YouTube

Interestingly, the researchers found both types of mating in the fungus in South
America and only the clonal mating in Central America. This supports the belief that
the fungus originated in South America, spreading to Central America where it
spread rapidly.

The research also showed that what was believed to be two varieties of fungi were
actually two genetic variations of the two mating types, the clonal and sexual. This
leads to the possibility of conducting breeding programs to see which type is the
more virulent and then develop a resistant cacao cultivar.

Díaz-Valderrama says chocolate lovers must not lose hope because "We're working
on identifying biochemical components that could be useful for controlling frosty
pod rot and protecting vulnerable cacao-growing regions."

The study, "The cacao pathogen Moniliophthora roreri (Marasmiaceae) possesses

biallelic A and B mating loci but reproduces clonally," was published in the journal
Heredity
(http://www.nature.com/hdy/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/hdy20165a.html)on March
2, 2016.

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