Metabarcoding analysis identifies the phyllosphere fungal communities associated with a newly emerged leaf fall disease in rubber plants in Indonesia
Abstract
A leaf disease causing leaf fall in Hevea brasiliensis recently appeared in Southeast Asia and threatens rubber production. While tentatively associated with the Pestalotiopsis, Colletotrichum, and Neopestalotiopsis species, its etiology remains poorly characterized. This study aims to identify the fungal community associated with symptomatic rubber leaves using culture-independent ITS amplicon sequencing. Leaf samples representing three levels of symptom severity were collected from Central Java and South Sumatra. Fungal community analysis revealed that geographic origin, rather than symptom severity, was the driver of community clustering. Phyllosticta and Colletotrichum were consistently dominant across all samples, with Phyllosticta displaying higher abundance. Minor proportions of Pestalotiopsis, Neopestalotiopsis, Corynespora, and Pestalotia were also detected. Fungal isolates collected from diseased leaves in the same regions were identified as Neopestalotiopsis, Pestalotiopsis, and Colletotrichum and placed in a two-loci (ITS and β-tubulin) phylogenetic tree to clarify their identity at species level. Pathogenicity assays confirmed that representative isolates reproduced field symptoms. However, no Phyllosticta isolate was obtained, probably due to slow growth. This metabarcoding assessment of the phyllosphere mycobiota in diseased rubber leaves identified Phyllosticta as a critical yet overlooked component of the leaf fall disease complex, providing insights into fungal ecology and pathogenic interactions underlying this emerging production threat.
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BibTeX
@article{setyawan2026metabarcoding,
title = {{Metabarcoding analysis identifies the phyllosphere fungal communities associated with a newly emerged leaf fall disease in rubber plants in Indonesia}},
author = {Budi Setyawan and Arif Wibowo and Valérie Pujade-Renaud and Siti Subandiyah},
journal = {Indonesian Journal of Biotechnology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.22146/ijbiotech.115802},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05840280v1},
note = {CC BY-SA 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Metabarcoding analysis identifies the phyllosphere fungal communities associated with a newly emerged leaf fall disease in rubber plants in Indonesia
AU - Budi Setyawan
AU - Arif Wibowo
AU - Valérie Pujade-Renaud
AU - Siti Subandiyah
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/27
JO - Indonesian Journal of Biotechnology
DO - 10.22146/ijbiotech.115802
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05840280v1
AB - A leaf disease causing leaf fall in Hevea brasiliensis recently appeared in Southeast Asia and threatens rubber production. While tentatively associated with the Pestalotiopsis, Colletotrichum, and Neopestalotiopsis species, its etiology remains poorly characterized. This study aims to identify the fungal community associated with symptomatic rubber leaves using culture-independent ITS amplicon sequencing. Leaf samples representing three levels of symptom severity were collected from Central Java and South Sumatra. Fungal community analysis revealed that geographic origin, rather than symptom severity, was the driver of community clustering. Phyllosticta and Colletotrichum were consistently dominant across all samples, with Phyllosticta displaying higher abundance. Minor proportions of Pestalotiopsis, Neopestalotiopsis, Corynespora, and Pestalotia were also detected. Fungal isolates collected from diseased leaves in the same regions were identified as Neopestalotiopsis, Pestalotiopsis, and Colletotrichum and placed in a two-loci (ITS and β-tubulin) phylogenetic tree to clarify their identity at species level. Pathogenicity assays confirmed that representative isolates reproduced field symptoms. However, no Phyllosticta isolate was obtained, probably due to slow growth. This metabarcoding assessment of the phyllosphere mycobiota in diseased rubber leaves identified Phyllosticta as a critical yet overlooked component of the leaf fall disease complex, providing insights into fungal ecology and pathogenic interactions underlying this emerging production threat.
SN - 0853-8654
ER -