Biology of Plumeria leaf rust disease caused by Coleosporium plumeriae

Abstract

The leaf rust disease in Plumeria first appeared in Sri Lanka some time in the year 2002 and is now widespread. The disease is found in both Plumeria rubra and P. obtusa (Apocynaceae) and the infected leaves show numerous tiny, raised, orange, rusty pustules on the abaxial surface of the leaf. The adaxial surface opposite to infected sites is chlorotic reducing the available photosynthetic area of the leaf. Symptoms were absent in the stem or flowers. The causal agent was identified as Coleosporium plumeriae. This is the first report of Plumeria leaf rust in Sri Lanka. Microscopic studies indicated the presence of uredia, formed from the transversing mycelium and emerged through ruptured lower epidermis. No other fruiting structures, telium, aecium or spermatium were encountered at any stage of the disease in Plumeria or in Pinus, which was previously reported as a secondary host of C. plumeriae. Two other fungi, Absidia sp. and Verticillium sp., were found to colonize the rust areas of more mature leaves in succession, Absidia sp. appearing first. These two fungi grew as mycoparasites on C. plumeriae and had no direct contact with the leaf tissue. However, colonization by these two fungi resulted in necrosis around the rust infections inflicting damage to leaves. Young leaves down to about the third from the apical bud are resistant to rust infection. Young leaves contain more latex compared to mature leaves and the latex shows inhibitory action against germination of uredospores. Latex was found to possess chitinase activity on a gel diffusion assay. Latex may therefore be playing a role in the resistance of young leaves against rust infection.

Full text

Cey. J. Sci. (Bio. Sci.) 35 (2):157-162, 2006
157
BIOLOGY OF PLUMERIA LEAF RUST DISEASE CAUSED BY
COLEOSPORIUM PLUMERIAE
T. P. Weeraratne and N. K. B. Adikaram*
Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, University of Peradeniya,
Peradeniya, Sri Lanka
Accepted: 13 November 2006
ABSTRACT
The leaf rust disease in Plumeria first appeared in Sri Lanka some time in the year 2002 and is now
widespread. The disease is found in both Plumeria rubra and P. obtusa (Apocynaceae) and the infected
leaves show numerous tiny, raised, orange, rusty pustules on the abaxial surface of the leaf. The adaxial
surface opposite to infected sites is chlorotic reducing the available photosynthetic area of the leaf.
Symptoms were absent in the stem or flowers. The causal agent was identified as Coleosporium plumeriae.
This is the first report of Plumeria leaf rust in Sri Lanka. Microscopic studies indicated the presence of
uredia, formed from the transversing mycelium and emerged through ruptured lower epidermis. No other
fruiting structures, telium, aecium or spermatium were encountered at any stage of the disease in Plumeria
or in Pinus, which was previously reported as a secondary host of C. plumeriae. Two other fungi, Absidia
sp. and Verticillium sp., were found to colonize the rust areas of more mature leaves in succession, Absidia
sp. appearing first. These two fungi grew as mycoparasites on C. plumeriae and had no direct contact with
the leaf tissue. However, colonization by these two fungi resulted in necrosis around the rust infections
inflicting damage to leaves. Young leaves down to about the third from the apical bud are resistant to rust
infection. Young leaves contain more latex compared to mature leaves and the latex shows inhibitory
action against germination of uredospores. Latex was found to possess chitinase activity on a gel diffusion
assay. Latex may therefore be playing a role in the resistance of young leaves against rust infection.
Key words: Chitinase activity, Coleosporium plumeriae, Plumeria leaf rust
INTRODUCTION
Plumeria belongs to Apocynaceae which is a
large family of about 300 genera with more than
1400 species, found predominantly in the tropics
and sub-tropics (Dassanayake & Fosberg, 1983).
Plumeria is an introduced plant grown as an
ornamental and commonly known as ‘Araliya’ or
temple tree in Sri Lanka. Two species of
Plumeria (P. rubra and P. obtusa) are found in
the island, the flowers are widely used for
worshiping at temples.
The genus Coleosporium belongs to the
Family Coleosporaceae of the Order Uredinales.
This family has two other genera and nearly 80
cosmopolitans including the genus Coleosporium.
The genus has numerous described species, many
of which are doubtfully distinct morphologically
(Cummins, 1997). Most species are macrocyclic
and thus heteroecious with spermogonia and
aecia on needles of Pinus and uredia, telia and
basidia on both monocots and dicots.
Patouillard (1902) had noticed the presence of
leaf rust disease in Plumeria alba on Guadaloupe
island in West Indies (1902, cited by Dizon et al.,
1996, in Chung et al., 2006) which then spread to
Central America. Later, in 1990s Plumeria rust
was noticed in 8 species of Plumeria (including
P. rubra) on South Pacific islands (Kakishima et
al., 1995). Rust on the leaves of Plumeria species
caused by Coleosporium spp. has been reported
in Hawaii islands where it is grown as a common
ornamental tree. The disease is often known as
the ‘Frangipani Rust’. To-anum et al. (2004) have
found the disease in Thailand, the causal agent
being C. plumeriae. A more recent report by
Chung et al. (2006) describe the occurrence of
Plumeria rust disease caused by C. plumeriae in
Taiwan where the Plumeria trees have been
imported from South Asia. The rust disease in
Plumeria was observed in Taiwan for the first
time in 2003, a little later the disease was initially
noticed in Sri Lanka.
Several other Coleosporium spp. have been
found to occur on other hosts, C. ipomoeae in
sweet potato, C. asterianum on (Laundon and
Rainbow, 1969) and C. tussilaginis in pine
needles, C. vernoniae on Elephantopus spp.
(Holliday, 1980). Coleosporium could easily be
*Corresponding aurhor’s e-mail:nkba@pdn.ac.lk

T. P. Weeraratne and N. K. B. Adikaram 158
transmitted to tropics and southern hemisphere
with the introduction of conifers from the north
as pine needle rusts are wide spread in the
Northern hemisphere (Holliday, 1980).
The disease first appeared in Sri Lanka some
time in the year 2002 and is now widespread and
prevalent in most parts of the country in both P.
rubra and P. obtusa. However, there is no
information available locally on the disease and
there are no previous studies conducted probably
because of the lesser economic importance of
Plumeria. The present study attempted to
investigate the biology of Plumeria leaf rust and
this is the first report of the disease in Sri Lanka.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Study site and plant material
Plant materials of Plumeria were collected
from the Peradeniya University premises situated
at an altitude of 518-550 m and geographically
located at 7º 17΄ N latitudes and 80º 36΄ E
longitudes which has a mean annual precipitation
of 2,121 mm and mean annual temperature of
24.1 ºC. This study was carried out from June
2003 - March 2004.
Both infected and healthy leaves of Plumeria
were collected from plants belonging to P. rubra
and P. obtusa. Leaf materials were collected as
whole twigs, individual leaves of different
maturity stages, at various stages of the study.
Leaves were also used to collect latex. These
materials were brought to the Plant Pathology
laboratory in the Department of Botany,
University of Peradeniya for examination.
Symptoms
The diameter of 100 randomly selected rust
pustules, 50 from young (1 – 3 weeks old) leaves
and 50 from old (4 – 6 weeks old) leaves, each of
P. rubra and P. obtusa was measured, using a
ruler and a Venire caliper. The growth stage at
which the leaf becomes susceptible to rust
infection was studied using 50 twigs each from P.
rubra and P. obtusa that consisted of very young
buds to mature leaves. Each leaf of the twigs was
observed for symptoms and the upper most leaf
that showed symptoms was noted from each twig.
The twigs were further examined to determine the
progression of symptoms during maturation of
the leaves.
Needle leaves of Pinus trees growing in close
proximity to infected Plumeria plants were also
examined for the presence of any rust symptoms
to ascertain the possible secondary host
relationship with Plumeria leaf rust fungus.
Microscopic studies
Leaves with different stages of the disease
were examined visually and under microscope
and symptoms were noted. Scrapings were taken
from infected areas and observed under the high
power of light microscope. The length and
breadth of 100 randomly selected uredospores
each from P. rubra and P. obtusa were measured.
To examine the development of the fungus within
the leaf tissue, hand and microtome sections were
taken across diseased sites of the leaves and
examined under microscope.
Isolation of mycoparasites
Colonization of the two mycoparasitic fungi
was observed on C. plumeriae in more mature
leaves. The mycoparasites were isolated on PDA.
The leaf areas with rust pustules, with
mycoparasites were cut into small pieces. These
were surface sterilized with 5% NaOCl for 2-3
minutes. The leaf pieces were placed on PDA
plates, and the plates were incubated at room
temperature (27 ºC).
Inhibitory effect of latex on uredospores
Since mature leaves (of the age of more than
5 weeks) are more susceptible to infection than
younger leaves which have more latex,
experiments were conducted to examine whether
the latex has any effect on disease development.
Fifty younger (1-3 weeks old) leaves and another
50 older (5-6 weeks old) leaves of P. rubra were
excised separately by cutting through the petiole
at mid-way using a sharp blade. The latex came
out through the cut end of the younger and
mature leaf petioles was collected separately into
two separate measuring cylinders and the volume
of latex exuded was measured. Fresh weight of
the two leaf samples was recorded. Latex content
(ml/g fresh weight) was determined for younger
and older leaves.
The latex collected from young and old leaves
was diluted ten times by adding sterile distilled
water in two separate tubes. After mixing well,
the water insoluble material was separated by
centrifugation at 3000 rpm for 5 minutes. The
supernatant containing water soluble material was
collected into two clean, sterile capped-tubes.
Uredospores were scraped from rust pustules
on P. rubra leaves and suspended in sterile
distilled water in a glass tube. To wash
uredispores the suspension was shaken for 10
minutes and centrifuged for another 10 minutes at
3000 rpm. The supernatant was discarded and the
residue suspended in sterile distilled water was
centrifuged again. Finally the residue was re-
suspended in sterile distilled water and the

Plumeria leaf rust 159
number of uredospores in the suspension was
adjusted to 2.5x105spores/ml.
Three aliquots (1 ml) of spore suspension
were separately mixed with 1 ml each of diluted
water-soluble fraction of (a) young leaf latex, (b)
old leaf latex and (c) sterile distilled water in 3
separate tubes. The 3 tubes were shaken well and
drops of each mixture were placed on four glass
slides. Slides from each treatment were incubated
in three separate moist chambers for 120 minutes.
At the end of incubation 100 randomly selected
spores in each slide were counted for
germination. Percentage germination of
uredospores in each was determined (American
Phytopathological Society, 1943).
Chitinase activity of P. rubra young (1-3
weeks old) leaf latex was assayed by gel
diffusion method as described by Zau et al.
(2002). Agarose gel was used as the medium and
glycol chitin was used as the substrate for
chitinase enzyme. 30 ml of gel prepared by
mixing 1.6% (w/v) agarose and 0.5% (w/v)
glycol chitin was poured into plates with a
diameter of 5.5 cm. Wells (2 mm diameter) were
made and 10 µl aliquots of crude latex, heat
destroyed water soluble fraction of latex, 2x
diluted water soluble fraction of latex and
distilled water were pipetted into individual
wells. The plates were incubated at 27 °C for 16
hours. After incubation gels were stained with 20
ml of freshly prepared 0.1% (w/v) calcofluor for
10 minutes. After staining, the excess calcofluor
dye was discarded and the gel plates were gently
washed with distilled water overnight at 27°C in
a shaker. Lytic zones in the gel were visualized
by UV transillumination.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Symptoms
Leaf rust of Plumeria species was first
noticed in Sri Lanka in 2002 and is now
widespread in many parts of the country. The
disease appears to have been introduced to some
other countries in the region about the same time,
for instance to Thailand in 2004 (To-anum et al.
2004) and Taiwan in 2003 (Chung et al., 2006).
The rust symptoms on both Plumeria species
were quite similar. The size of the old rust
pustules varied slightly between the two host
species. The diameter of most of the rust pustules
ranged between 0.5-1.5 mm (Table 1). The
pustule did not expand noticeably with
maturation of the leaf, however, when there was
dense infection, 2-3 pustules tended to coalesce
(Fig. 1).
The leaves of P. rubra expanded steadily
while those of P. obtusa remained unexpanded as
buds for a longer time. This could probably be
the reason for early symptom initiation seen in P.
rubra leaves. Mycoparasites also appeared first
on rust infected areas of P. rubra. The heavily
infected leaves of P. rubra fell about 15 weeks
after leaf development while in P. obtusa it took
about 20 weeks.
Table 1. Average diameter of rust pustules on
young (1 – 3 weeks old) and old (4 – 6 weeks
old) leaves of P. rubra and P. obtusa.
Species Stage
of leaf
Average
diameter
of a pustule
(mm)
Plumeria rubra Young 0.6 ± 0.1
Old 1.0 ± 0.3
Plumeria obtusa Young 0.6 ± 0.2
Old 1.1 ± 0.3
In P. rubra the two youngest leaves were
most of the time in bud and free of any
symptoms. In P. obtusa the three uppermost
leaves were in bud and again no symptoms were
found. In both species the rust symptoms first
started to appear mostly in the 4th leaf and
occasionally in the 5th leaf (Table 2). In P. rubra
the symptoms appeared about 8 weeks after bud
development while in P. obtusa symptoms
appeared about 8-10 weeks after bud
development.
Table 2. Percentage leaves of P. rubra and P. obtusa at different maturity stages showing initial
stage of rust symptoms.
% leaves with initial symptoms
Leaf No. Plumeria rubra Plumeria obtusa
1 0 (bud stage) 0 (bud stage)
2 0 (bud stage) 0 (bud stage)
3 8 0 (bud stage)
4 76 72
5 16 28
6 0 0

T. P. Weeraratne and N. K. B. Adikaram 160
In both species the rust infections took place
first around the mid-rib and primary veins in
small numbers. There was dense rust infection at
the base of the leaf closer to the mid-rib, about 3
weeks after initiation of symptoms. The
symptoms spread to the rest of the leaf, towards
the apex. The apical half of the leaf had
comparatively lesser number of infections than
the basal half in both species. There were two
other fungi associated with the disease in more
mature leaves of both Plumeria species. These
were identified as Absidia sp. and Verticillium sp.
(Fig. 2). These two fungi appeared 4-5 weeks
after initiation of rust symptoms in succession,
Absidia sp. appearing first. These two fungi grew
as mycoparasites on C. plumeriae producing
white, profuse mycelium on the rust and had no
direct contact with the leaf tissue. The
mycoparasites never grew beyond the rust
infected areas. They may be growing on
uredospores utilizing the contents and spore walls
as nutrients or exudates of infected tissues. The
exact role of these fungi in the Plumeria leaf rust
is, however, not clear. Colonization by these two
fungi resulted in some necrosis in the leaf tissue
around rust infections inflicting damage to leaves.
The infected leaves fell slightly early in P. rubra
about 7 weeks after initial infection and this took
10 – 12 weeks in P. obtusa.
The pustules on both P. rubra and P. obtusa
had globose to ellipsoid, orange-yellow, thick
walled (warty, hyaline) uredospores, the only
spore type observed during the study. The
average length and breadth of uredospore
pathogen on P. rubra were 27.18 ± 4.71 µm and
20.03 ± 2.88 µm respectively. The average spore
length and breadth of the pathogen on P. obtusa
were 28.00 ± 4.93 µm and 19.42 ± 1.95 µm
respectively. The average dimensions of
uredospores ranged within the ranges observed
for the genus Coleosporium in CMI descriptions
(20-40 µm x 16-28 µm) (Laundon and Rainbow,
1969). These observations confirmed that the
primary causal agent of Plumeria leaf rust is C.
plumeriae. No rust infections were encountered
in Pinus needles examined during the study.
Microscopic Studies
Rust infections in both Plumeria species were
restricted to the lower surface and the upper
surface corresponding to rust infected regions
was chlorotic. Individual rust infections were
observed as raised, localized pustules with
orange, dusty spore masses.
The development and emergence of pustules
were clearly observed during microscopic
studies. The initial infections which were initially
small, developed in to pustule bearing numerous
uredospores by rupture of the lower epidermis of
the leaf. Examination of the hand and microtome
sections taken through the pastules, revealed that
the mycelium of the fungus C. plumeriae was
immersed in and transversed the leaf tissue.
However, the mycelium is more densely arranged
within spongy mesophyll cells just below the
uredium. The uredium is hypophyllous. The
catenulate uredospores are borne on hyphal tips
of the fungal mycelium coming out of the leaf
tissue (Fig. 1). The leaf tissue at the rust pustule
is yellowish orange in colour. At the spot the
mesophylls are yellowish orange in colour and
especially the arrangement and shape of spongy
mesophylls are slightly changed compared to
healthy uninfected leaf sections. However, the
tissue at the infected area remained intact and
undisturbed.
b
a
Figure 1. (a) Uredia of C. plumeriae on P. rubra leaf (under surface, x30), (b) A transverse section
through a uredium (x100).

Plumeria leaf rust 161
a
.
b
c
Figure 2. (a) Mycoparasite, Verticillium sp., colonization on the rust fungus (x30), (b) Transverse
section through rust infected area colonized by Verticillium sp (x100), and (c) Conidiophore of
Verticillium sp. bearing conidia (x400).
Figure 2. (a) Mycoparasite, Verticillium sp., colonization on the rust fungus (x30), (b) Transverse
section through rust infected area colonized by Verticillium sp (x100), and (c) Conidiophore of
Verticillium sp. bearing conidia (x400).
Table 3. Amount of latex (ml/g of fresh leaf tissue) collected from young (1-3 weeks old) and old (5-
6 weeks old) leaves of P. rubra.
Table 3. Amount of latex (ml/g of fresh leaf tissue) collected from young (1-3 weeks old) and old (5-
6 weeks old) leaves of P. rubra.
Leaf type Leaf type Leaf weight (g) Leaf weight (g) Latex volume (ml) Latex volume (ml) Volume/wt (ml/g) Volume/wt (ml/g)
Young 65 2.0 0.0308
Old 165 1.0 0.0061
Clear zones due to
chitinase activity
a
b
d
c
Figure 3. Gel diffusion assay plate with P. rubra young leaf latex, (a) Crude latex, (b) Undiluted
water soluble fraction (Heat destroyed), (c) Distilled water and (d) Water soluble fraction (2 x
diluted).
Chitinase activity of Plumeria leaf latex
The amount of latex collected from young
leaves on fresh weight basis was about 5 times
higher than that of old leaves of P. rubra (Table
3).
Germination of uredospores took place in
water on glass slides within about 60 – 75
minutes. The latex from both Plumeria species
had an inhibitory effect on uredospore
germination compared to distilled water (control).
The inhibitory effect on uredospore germination
was greater in latex obtained from younger leaves
compared to latex from older leaves (Table 4).
Treatment of uredospores with fresh latex did not
alter the time required for germination. The germ
tubes elongated to a greater extent in the latex
from P. obtusa than that from P. rubra within 35
minutes incubation period. During germination,
emergence of one or more germ tubes was
observed.

T. P. Weeraratne and N. K. B. Adikaram 162
Table 4. Uredospore germination in young (1-3
weeks old) and old (5-6 weeks old) leaf latex of
P. rubra.
Type of latex % germination of
uredospores
Young 60 ± 9.9
Old 70 ± 8.8
Distilled Water 92 ± 3.0
The lumeria latex was shown to exhibit
chitinase activity by using a gel diffusion assay
technique (Fig. 3). Chitinases that catalize the
cleavage of chitin show antifungal properties
against fungi containing chitin in walls. The
presence of chitinase has also been reported in
papaya (Adikaram et al., 1998) which may
defend the host against fungal infection.
Therefore, it is possible that the latex may play a
role in the resistance of young Plumeria leaves
against Coleosporium infection. As the leaf
matures this ability decreases as the latex content
is less which may allow the pathogen to infect
leaf tissues.
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