First report of Pseudocerradoa paullula causing aroid leaf rust on Swiss cheese plant Monstera deliciosa in South Carolina, USA.

In February 2023, two Monstera deliciosa Liebm. (Araceae) plants with typical symptoms of leaf rust disease were detected at a grocery store in Oconee Co., South Carolina. Symptoms included chlorotic leaf spots and abundant brownish uredinia, mainly on the adaxial surface of more than 50% of leaves. The same disease was detected on 11 out of 481 M. deliciosa plants in a greenhouse at a plant nursery located in York Co., South Carolina, in March 2023. The first plant sample detected in February was used for morphological characterization, molecular identification, and pathogenicity confirmation of the rust fungus. Urediniospores were densely aggregated, globose, golden to golden brown in color, and measured 22.9 to 27.9 µm (aver. 26.0 ± 1.1 µm; n=50) in diameter with wall thickness at 1.3 to 2.6 µm (aver. 1.8 ± 0.3 µm; n=50). Telia were not observed. These morphological traits aligned with those of Pseudocerradoa paullula (basionym: Puccinia paullula; Ebinghaus et al. 2022; Sakamoto et al. 2023; Sydow and Sydow 1913; Urbina et al. 2023). Genomic DNA was extracted from urediniospores collected from the naturally infected plant sample and used for PCR amplification and DNA sequencing of the large subunit (LSU) genetic marker with primers LRust1R and LR3 (Vilgalys and Hester 1990; Beenken et al. 2012). The LSU sequence of the rust fungus in South Carolina (GenBank accession: OQ746460) is 99.9% identical to that of Ps. paullula voucher BPI 893085 (763/764 nt.; KY764151), 99.4% identical to that of voucher PIGH 17154 in Florida, USA (760/765 nt.; OQ275201), and 99% identical to that of voucher TNS-F-82075 in Japan (715/722 nt.; OK509071). Based on its morphological and molecular characteristics, the causal agent was identified as Ps. paullula. This pathogen identification was also corroborated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Plant Pathogen Confirmatory Diagnostics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. To confirm the fungus's pathogenicity on M. deliciosa and M. adansonii Schott (Sakamoto et al. 2023), three plants of each Monstera species were inoculated by spraying with a suspension of urediniospores collected from the original plant sample (1 × 106 spores per ml; approx. 40 ml per plant). Three non-inoculated control plants of each host species were treated with deionized water in the same manner. Plants were placed in a plastic tray with wet paper towels to maintain moisture. The tray was placed at 22C for an 8-h photoperiod and covered for five days to facilitate infection. On 25 days after inoculation, abundant spots bearing urediniospores were produced on all leaves of inoculated M. deliciosa plants. A few uredinia were observed on two of the three inoculated M. adansonii plants. All non-inoculated control plants remained asymptomatic. Morphological features of urediniospores collected from inoculated plants matched those of Ps. paullula used as the inoculum. Aroid leaf rust on Monstera plants was officially reported in Australia, China, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, and Florida, USA (Shaw 1991; Sakamoto et al. 2023; Urbina et al. 2023). This is the first report of Ps. paullula causing this disease on M. deliciosa in South Carolina, USA. Monstera species are popular indoor and landscape plants. Potential impact and regulatory responses regarding Ps. paullula, a newly introduced and rapidly spreading pathogen in the USA, warrant further evaluation and discussion.

De Novo Assembly, Annotation, and Characterization of Root Transcriptomes of Three Caladium Cultivars with a Focus on Necrotrophic Pathogen Resistance/Defense-Related Genes.

Roots are vital to plant survival and crop yield, yet few efforts have been made to characterize the expressed genes in the roots of non-model plants (root transcriptomes). This study was conducted to sequence, assemble, annotate, and characterize the root transcriptomes of three caladium cultivars (Caladium × hortulanum) using RNA-Seq. The caladium cultivars used in this study have different levels of resistance to Pythiummyriotylum, the most damaging necrotrophic pathogen to caladium roots. Forty-six to 61 million clean reads were obtained for each caladium root transcriptome. De novo assembly of the reads resulted in approximately 130,000 unigenes. Based on bioinformatic analysis, 71,825 (52.3%) caladium unigenes were annotated for putative functions, 48,417 (67.4%) and 31,417 (72.7%) were assigned to Gene Ontology (GO) and Clusters of Orthologous Groups (COG), respectively, and 46,406 (64.6%) unigenes were assigned to 128 Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways. A total of 4518 distinct unigenes were observed only in Pythium-resistant "Candidum" roots, of which 98 seemed to be involved in disease resistance and defense responses. In addition, 28,837 simple sequence repeat sites and 44,628 single nucleotide polymorphism sites were identified among the three caladium cultivars. These root transcriptome data will be valuable for further genetic improvement of caladium and related aroids.

Alocasia sakonakhonensis (Araceae), a new species from northeastern Thailand.

Alocasia sakonakhonensis Chatan & Promprom (Araceae), a new species from northeastern Thailand, is described and illustrated. It is clearly different from other previously known species by leaves, spathe, ovary, sterile interstice, synandria, and appendix. Color illustrations, and a distribution map are provided, as well as comparative morphological characters about its similar species. The preliminary conservation status assessment of the new species was presented.

Assessment of ethnobotanical uses, household, and regional genetic diversity of aroid species grown in northeastern India.

Aroids are an important group of indigenous tuber crops, grown widely for their leaves, petioles, stolons, corms, and cormels. A total of 53 genotypes were evaluated for their genetic diversity in northeastern region of India. At household level, a total of 16 landraces of Aroids were recorded having different ethnobotanical uses. Based on the population study under Jhum/Shifting farming, landrace Rengama was dominant in area with 47% of the total population followed by Tamachongkham and Tasakrek. However, Pugarkusu and Chigi occupied 33.0 and 24.0% of the population, respectively under backyard farming, and were considered as major landraces. Tamachongkham, high in acridity and total oxalate content (0.82%), was used for cooking with meat, while Tasakrek was used as a baby food due to high total sugar (>3.0%), low in acridity, and total oxalate content (<0.12%). The Simpson's diversity index of the backyards was higher (0.80) as compared to Jhum field (0.63). The genotypes showed wider variability in growth and yield attributes like; plant height (89.4-206.1 cm), number of side shoots (1.84-5.92), corm weight (38.0-683.3 g), cormel weight (14.0-348.3 g), yield (0.24-1.83 kg plant-1). Similarly, wide variations were also observed for quality traits like total sugar (1.93-4.94%); starch (15.32-32.49%), total oxalate (0.10-0.82%), and dry matter (16.75-27.08%) content. Except for total oxalate, all the growth and yield attributes have shown high heritability and moderate to high genetic advance. Molecular analysis (33 polymorphic SSR markers) detected a total of 136 alleles, ranged 3 to 8 alleles per marker. The observed heterozygosity (0.24) was less than expected heterozygosity (0.69). The group-wise maximum genetic divergence was observed between Colocasia fallax (cv. Chigi) to C. esculenta var. aquatilis (cv. Tharsing); C. fallax (cv. Chigi) to C. gigantea (cv. Ganima) and C. gigantea (cv. Ganima) to Xanthosoma spp., while it was least between eddo and dasheen. The findings indicated, a wider diversity and distinct ethnobotanical uses of Aroid landraces at the house hold levels, which should be conserved and popularized to ensure nutritional security.

Toxicity of House Plants to Pet Animals.

Cases of ingestion of indoor poisonous plants are relatively common among animals and lead to both acute cases of poisoning and long-term exposure to harmful substances and chronic damage to the animal's health. Plants produce a large number of secondary metabolites, which serve to protect the plant from attacks by insects, parasitic plants, fungi or, for example, during reproduction. However, these metabolites can be toxic if ingested by animals or humans. Toxicologically effective components found in plants are mainly alkaloids, glycosides, saponins, terpenes and others. This review article describes in detail the most common and popular indoor poisonous plants grown in Europe, the mechanisms of action of their active substances and clinical signs of the respective poisonings. This manuscript is supplemented with rich photographic documentation of these plants not found in similar articles, and also includes a description of the treatment of individual types of poisoning.

Optimization of starch extraction from Amorphophallus paeoniifolius corms using response surface methodology (RSM) and artificial neural network (ANN) for improving yield with tenable chemical attributes.

The development of the extraction process for improving the starch yield from unconventional plants is emerging as a topic of interest. In this respect, the present work aimed to optimize the starch extraction from the corms of elephant foot yam (Amorphophallus paeoniifolius) with the help of response surface methodology (RSM) and artificial neural network (ANN). The RSM model performed better than the ANN in predicting the starch yield with higher precision. In this connection, this study for the first time reports the significant improvement of starch yield from A. paeoniifolius (51.76 g/100 g of the corm dry weight). The extracted starch samples based on yield - high (APHS), medium (APMS), and low (APLS) exhibited a variable granule size (7.17-14.14 µm) along with low ash content, moisture content, protein, and free amino acid indicating purity and desirability. The FTIR analysis also confirmed the chemical composition and purity of the starch samples. Moreover, the XRD analysis showed the prevalence of C-type starch (2θ = 14.303°). Based on other physicochemical, biochemical, functional, and pasting properties, the three starch samples showed more or less similar characteristics thereby indicating the sustentation of beneficial attributes of starch molecules irrespective of the variation in extraction parameters.

A new species of Amorphophallus (Araceae) from northeastern Thailand.

Amorphophallussakonnakhonensis Chatan & Promprom, a new species from northeastern Thailand, is described and illustrated. The new species is most similar to A.harmandii Engl. & Gehrm. and A.linearis Gagnep., but it is distinguished by the combination of characters as follows: clear differences with A.harmandii are shorter style; disc-like, slightly smooth surface, concave centre, ca. 0.2 × 0.1 mm stigma; slightly cylindrical, slightly narrower upper part of staminate flower zone; slightly cylindrical to elongate-fusiform, erect or slightly erect, creamy white appendix. The clearly distinct morphology with A.linearis are disc-like, slightly smooth surface, concave centre, ca. 0.2 × 0.1 mm stigma; elliptic or obovate leaflet; 1-3 cm long, creamy white appendix. The preliminary conservation status was assessed, and the distinct characteristics of similar species were discussed.

Genome Size of Life Forms of Araceae-A New Piece in the C-Value Puzzle.

The genome size of an organism is an important trait that has predictive values applicable to various scientific fields, including ecology. The main source of plant C-values is the Plant DNA C-values database of the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, which currently contains 12,273 estimates. However, it covers only 2.9% of known angiosperm species and has gaps in the life form and geographic distribution of plants. Only 4.5% of C-value estimates come from researchers in Central and South America. This study provides 41 new C-values for the aroid family (Araceae), collected in the Piedras Blancas National Park area in southern Costa Rica, including terrestrial, epiphytic and aquatic life forms. Data from our study are combined with C-value entries in the RBGK database for Araceae. The analysis reveals a wider range of C-values for terrestrial aroids, consistent with other terrestrial plants, a trend toward slightly lower C-values for epiphytic forms, which is more consistent for obligate epiphytes, and comparatively low C-values for aquatic aroids.

Aroids as underexplored tubers with potential health benefits.

Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott and Xanthosoma sagittifolium (L.) Schott are the most popular tubers among the Araceas family. Their chemical composition related to their nutritional benefits could make these rhizomes a valid option for the nutritional and technological improvement of food products. This chapter provide a clarification about the correct nomenclature of both tubers giving an insight around the principle components and their health effects. The scientific literature review has primarily highlighted several in vitro and animal studies where the consumption (leaves and whole tuber) of Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott and Xanthosoma sagittifolium (L.) Schott was related with certain antihyperglycemic, antihypertensive, hypoglycemic and prebiotic effects. Owing to their functional properties, different component from these rhizomes, specially starch, mucilage and powders are being used by the food industry. Their ability to behave as thickener and gelling agent has allowed their incorporation in baked food, food paste and beverages. This chapter suggests the development of more research around these rhizomes since they could potentially play, with other crops, an important role in the future sustainable strategies to feed the planet.

Mutational Dynamics of Aroid Chloroplast Genomes II.

The co-occurrence among single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), insertions-deletions (InDels), and oligonucleotide repeats has been reported in prokaryote, eukaryote, and chloroplast genomes. Correlations among SNPs, InDels, and repeats have been investigated in the plant family Araceae previously using pair-wise sequence alignments of the chloroplast genomes of two morphotypes of one species, Colocasia esculenta belonging to subfamily Aroideae (crown group), and four species from the subfamily Lemnoideae, a basal group. The family Araceae is a large family comprising 3,645 species in 144 genera, grouped into eight subfamilies. In the current study, we performed 34 comparisons using 27 species from 7 subfamilies of Araceae to determine correlation coefficients among the mutational events at the family, subfamily, and genus levels. We express strength of the correlations as: negligible or very weak (0.10-0.19), weak (0.20-0.29), moderate (0.30-0.39), strong (0.40-0.69), very strong (0.70-0.99), and perfect (1.00). We observed strong/very strong correlations in most comparisons, whereas a few comparisons showed moderate correlations. The average correlation coefficient was recorded as 0.66 between "SNPs and InDels," 0.50 between "InDels and repeats," and 0.42 between "SNPs and repeats." In qualitative analyses, 95-100% of the repeats at family and sub-family level, while 36-86% of the repeats at genus level comparisons co-occurred with SNPs in the same bins. Our findings show that such correlations among mutational events exist throughout Araceae and support the hypothesis of distribution of oligonucleotide repeats as a proxy for mutational hotspots.

Taxonomy of the Colocasiomyia gigantea species group (Diptera, Drosophilidae), with descriptions of four new species from Yunnan, China.

Species of the genus Colocasiomyia de Meijere feed/breed on inflorescences/infructescences of the plants from the families Araceae, Arecaceae and Magnoliaceae. Although most of them utilize plants from the subfamily Aroideae of Araceae, three species of the recently established C. gigantea species group make use of plants of the subfamily Monsteroideae. We describe four new species of the gigantea group found from Yunnan, China: Colocasiomyia longifilamentata Li & Gao, sp. n., C. longivalva Li & Gao, sp. n., C. hailini Li & Gao, sp. n., and C. yini Li & Gao, sp. n. The species delimitation is proved in virtue of not only morphology but also DNA barcodes, i.e., sequences of the partial mitochondrial COI (cytochrome c oxidase subunit I) gene. Some nucleotide sites with fixed status in the alignment of the COI sequences (658 sites in length) are used as "pure" molecular diagnostic characters to delineate species in the gigantea group.

A new Costa Rican species of Drosophila visiting inflorescences of the hemi-epiphytic climber Monstera lentii (Araceae)

ABSTRACT Drosophila monsterae sp. nov. is described from 11 males and 13 females collected from the inside of closed inflorescences of Monstera lentii (Araceae) at 1810 m altitude in the Forest Reserve of Cerro de La Carpintera, Canton La Unión, Province of Cartago, Costa Rica. Although flies have been seen wandering and copulating inside the floral chambers of closed inflorescences during the floral female phase, eggs or larvae have not yet been found either in the spathe or in the fleshy spadix. The new species is related to Drosophila tristani Sturtevant, 1921, from San José, Costa Rica, from which it differs mainly by having smaller slightly circular compound eyes, distinctly broader genae (cheek index ca. 2.4 vs 5 in D. tristani), and the inner capsule of spermathecae with an unusual folded duct at basal half of its very wide introvert. This is the eighth species to be included in the New World, essentially Neotropical, subgenus Phloridosa. Photomicrographs of male and female terminalia are also provided.