Home A new oomycete pathogen Olpidiopsis dasysiphoniae sp. nov. (Oomycota) infecting the red alga Dasysiphonia japonica (Ceramiales, Delesseriaceae)
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A new oomycete pathogen Olpidiopsis dasysiphoniae sp. nov. (Oomycota) infecting the red alga Dasysiphonia japonica (Ceramiales, Delesseriaceae)

  • Xianying Wen

    Xianying Wen is a PhD working at Sungkyunkwan University as a postdoc researcher. Her major field of research includes oomycete disease, taxonomy and evolution of red algae. Her current research focuses on the diversity of oomycete disease in Korea based upon morphology and molecular taxonomy.

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    , Giuseppe C. Zuccarello

    Giuseppe C. Zuccarello is Professor of Victoria University of Wellington. He has been working on the taxonomy, evolution and speciation of algae and interacting parasites. His research has focused on mangrove-associated red algae of the genus Bostrychia. He received his PhD degree from the University of California Berkeley. He has been president of the International Phycological Society. He has published over 180 peer-reviewed papers.

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    , Hwan Su Yoon

    Hwan Su Yoon is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Sungkyunkwan University, Korea. He received his PhD in biology from Chungnam National University. After research training at the University of Iowa, he worked at the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences. His research interests include eukaryotic biodiversity, phylogeny, single cell genomics, and genome evolution, with a focus on red algae and red algal plastid descendants (e.g., the cryptophytes, haptophytes, stramenopiles, dinoflagellates).

    and Gwang Hoon Kim

    Gwang Hoon Kim is a Professor at Kongju University. He is working on a wide range of issues related to cell signaling processes between algae and oomycete pathogens, sexual differentiation, cell-cell recognition and stress response of algal cells. He has published more than 200 peer-reviewed papers and graduated more than 21 PhD students. He has been working on seaweed farming for 20 years and holds a number of patents on improving seaweed farming technology, disease management and seaweed breeding.

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Published/Copyright: May 23, 2025

Abstract

Olpidiopsis is one of the major pathogens of commercially valuable red algae. Despite being such an important pathogen, the infection process has been studied and documented mainly in the Olpidiopsis species infecting Pyropia spp., but less so in other red algae. We collected an Olpidiopsis-like pathogen infecting Dasysiphonia japonica in Japan, and it is different from any previous described Olpidiopsis species. Molecular phylogeny inferred from 18S rRNA gene, cox1, and cox2 sequences and species delimitation analyses (i.e., Assemble Species by Automatic Partitioning, single-threshold General Mixed Yule Coalescent, Bayesian Poisson Tree Processes) showed that the collected Olpidiopsis sp. formed a supported clade with other Rhodophyta-infecting Olpidiopsis species, and was considered a distinct species by all species-delimitation methods. Furthermore, we tested the host range of this pathogen and studied its morphology through microscopic analysis. This new pathogen was distinguished from other species by the presence of only one sporangium per host cell and, during development, the sporangium became irregularly shaped, almost filling the entire host cell and produced up to 14 discharge tubes to release zoospores. The host range tests found that it only infected species of Dasysiphonia spp. Therefore, we propose the name, Olpidiopsis dasysiphoniae sp. nov., for this new species.


Corresponding author: Gwang Hoon Kim, Department of Biological Sciences, Kongju National University, Gongju 32588, Korea, E-mail:

Funding source: Cooperative Research Program for Agriculture Science and Technology Development, Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea

Award Identifier / Grant number: RS-2023-00231243

Funding source: National Marine Biodiversity Institute of Korea (MABIK)

Award Identifier / Grant number: Marine Fishery Bio-resources Center (2024)

About the authors

Xianying Wen

Xianying Wen is a PhD working at Sungkyunkwan University as a postdoc researcher. Her major field of research includes oomycete disease, taxonomy and evolution of red algae. Her current research focuses on the diversity of oomycete disease in Korea based upon morphology and molecular taxonomy.

Giuseppe C. Zuccarello

Giuseppe C. Zuccarello is Professor of Victoria University of Wellington. He has been working on the taxonomy, evolution and speciation of algae and interacting parasites. His research has focused on mangrove-associated red algae of the genus Bostrychia. He received his PhD degree from the University of California Berkeley. He has been president of the International Phycological Society. He has published over 180 peer-reviewed papers.

Hwan Su Yoon

Hwan Su Yoon is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Sungkyunkwan University, Korea. He received his PhD in biology from Chungnam National University. After research training at the University of Iowa, he worked at the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences. His research interests include eukaryotic biodiversity, phylogeny, single cell genomics, and genome evolution, with a focus on red algae and red algal plastid descendants (e.g., the cryptophytes, haptophytes, stramenopiles, dinoflagellates).

Gwang Hoon Kim

Gwang Hoon Kim is a Professor at Kongju University. He is working on a wide range of issues related to cell signaling processes between algae and oomycete pathogens, sexual differentiation, cell-cell recognition and stress response of algal cells. He has published more than 200 peer-reviewed papers and graduated more than 21 PhD students. He has been working on seaweed farming for 20 years and holds a number of patents on improving seaweed farming technology, disease management and seaweed breeding.

Acknowledgments

We thank Chikako Nagasato, Muroran Marine Station, Field Science Center for Northern Biosphere, Hokkaido University, for their assistance in collecting infected Dasysiphonia japonica plants.

  1. Research ethics: Not applicable.

  2. Informed consent: Informed consent was obtained from all individuals included in this study, or their legal guardians or wards.

  3. Author contributions: All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.

  4. Use of Large Language Models, AI and Machine Learning Tools: None declared.

  5. Conflict of interest: The authors state no conflict of interest regarding this article.

  6. Research funding: This work was supported by the by grants from the Management of Marine Fishery Bio-resources Center (2024) funded by the National Marine Biodiversity Institute of Korea (MABIK) to Gwang Hoon Kim, and the Cooperative Research Program for Agriculture Science and Technology Development (Project No. RS-2023-00231243), Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea to Hwan Su Yoon.

  7. Data availability: The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article and its Supplementary material. Raw data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, upon reasonable request.

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Supplementary Material

This article contains supplementary material (https://doi.org/10.1515/bot-2024-0091).


Received: 2024-10-18
Accepted: 2025-04-16
Published Online: 2025-05-23
Published in Print: 2025-08-26

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