Hymenoscyphus fraxineus (ash dieback)

H. fraxineus is an anamorphic fungal pathogen that causes ash dieback. Due to the severity of ash dieback H. pseudoalbidus has been on the EPPO Alert list since 2007. It is not known what caused the emergence of this 'new' disease (NAPPO, 2009). Its spread in Europe is thought to be mainly by ascospores, but infected nursery saplings may carry the fungus to new areas. The entire natural range of known hosts, including North Africa, Russia and south-west Asia (USDA-ARS, 2009), is currently threatened by ash dieback, with large areas already affected (Pautasso et al., 2013). Little is known about the susceptibility of the other species of ash in temperate zones.

The conidial anamorph of the causal agent of ash dieback was described by Kowalski (2006) as Chalara fraxinea, based on the structure of its phialides, which have a wide basal venter and a long collarette, enclosing a deep-seated site of conidial formation. Later, the apothecial teleomorph was reported to be a previously identified species of Hymenoscyphus, H. albidus (Kowalski and Holdenrieder, 2009b), that has been known from Europe since 1851 (Queloz et al., 2011). However, Queloz et al. (2011) presented molecular evidence for the existence of two morphologically very similar taxa, H. albidus and H. fraxineus (as H. pseudoalbidus). Inoculation experiments have shown that H. albidus is a non-pathogenic species, whereas H. fraxineus is a virulent species causing ash dieback on Fraxinus excelsior and F. angustifolia (Husson et al., 2011). Phylogenetic analysis showed that Japanese isolates previously recorded as Lambertella albida are conspecific with European H. fraxineus, although they appear more basal in the phylogenetic tree and show higher levels of genetic variation (Zhao et al., 2013). The sister species of H. fraxineus is the recently described H. albidoides, which has been isolated from the leaf litter of Picrasma quassioides in China (Zheng and Zhuang, 2013). The current preferred name for this pathogen is Hymenoscyphus fraxineus.

Colonies on malt extract agar (MEA) are cottony, white, orange-brown or fulvous brown, reverse brownish, grey sectors in areas associated with sporulation; sporulation can be induced by incubation at low temperatures; growth slow, about 1 mm per day at 20°C, although cultures grow faster and are more morphologically stable when grown on MEA containing ash leaves (Gross et al., 2012); pseudoparenchymatous stromata formed occasionally after prolonged incubation; hyphae 1.0-3.0 µm broad, subhyaline to olive-brown. Phialophores solitary and scattered, septate, branched or unbranched, olive-brown. Phialides subcylindrical to obclavate, 16-24 µm long, olive-brown; venter cylindrical to ellipsoid, 11-15 x 4-5 µm; collarettes cylindrical, 5-7 x 2.0–2.5 µm. Conidia short-cylindrical, hyaline to subhyaline, aseptate, smooth-walled, 2.0-4.0 x 2.0-2.5 µm, ends truncate or rounded, occasionally bearing small marginal frill, exuded in short chains or more often in droplets; first-formed conidia longer.

Ascomata apothecial scattered, superficial, white to cream, becoming cinnamon brown with age and drying, arising from blackened areas of fallen petioles or dead shoots; disk flat, 1.5-3.0 mm diameter, stipe 0.4-2.0 x 0.2-0.5 mm, enlarged or narrow at base, basal region frequently black. Paraphyses cylindrical, 2.0-2.5 µm thick, enlarged to 3 µm at apex, septate, hyaline, slightly yellowish. Asci cylindric-clavate, stipitate, 80-107 x 6-12 µm, eight-spored. Ascospores irregularly biseriate, fusiform-elliptical, broadly rounded above, narrow below, straight or slightly curved, 13-17 (-21) x 3.5-5.0 µm, hyaline and aseptate within ascus, becoming 1(-2)-septate and brownish on MEA.

For additional details, see White (1944), Kowalski (2006), Halmschlager and Kirisits (2008), Kirisits et al. (2009), Kowalski and Holdenrieder (2009b) and Kowalski and Bartnik (2010).

Ash dieback disease was first observed in North and Central Europe in the 1990s and since then H. pseudoalbidus has spread throughout much of Europe. It has been found on Fraxinus mandshurica in Japan and China, where it appears to be non-pathogenic on its native host (Zhao et al., 2013, Zheng and Zhuang, 2014). Combined with the lack of resistance in European ash species this suggests an Asian origin for H. fraxineus.

Ash dieback disease was first observed in North and Central Europe in the 1990s (Bakys et al., 2009a; Kowalski and Holdenrieder, 2009b). H. fraxineus (as Chalara fraxinea) was identified as the primary cause in Poland by Kowalski (2006), and was subsequently found in Germany (Schumacher et al., 2007), Sweden (Thomsen et al., 2007), Norway (Jankovský and Holdenrieder, 2009), Denmark (EPPO, 2009a), the Czech Republic (Jankovský and Holdenrieder, 2009), Austria (Halmschlager and Kirisits, 2008) and Hungary (Kirisits et al., 2009; Szabó, 2009). By November 2010, the disease had been reported from 22 European countries (Timmermann et al., 2011). The disease has since been recorded in the UK; for further information see: http://www.forestry.gov.uk/chalara.

Genotyping of herbarium specimens was initially thought to show that H. fraxineus had been present in Switzerland for at least 30 years prior to the outbreak of ash dieback (Queloz et al., 2011). However, further molecular analysis of the specimens revealed that they share 100% sequence similarity with H. albidus (Queloz et al., 2012) and there is therefore no evidence to contradict the view that H. fraxineus is a recent invasive species in Switzerland. Additional information is needed regarding the host range and distribution of the teleomorph (NAPPO, 2009).

H. fraxineus could certainly be distributed from forest nurseries on infected saplings (Kirisits et al., 2009). Wind-blown ascospores could be dispersed locally, as occurs with the related pathogen Crumenulopsis sororia (Hayes, 1980). Ash seeds can be naturally infected with H. fraxineus, although the effect of infection on germination is not known (Cleary et al., 2013a). Despite trade in ash seed between Europe and North America the disease has not been reported in the USA. International concern with the invasive emerald ash borer beetle (Agrilus planipennis) (USDA/APHIS, 2009; CFIA, 2009; EPPO, 2009a) should enhance restrictions on, and inspection of, any ash (Fraxinus) logs or lumber that might carry the fungus over great distances.

Only two Fraxinus species, F. excelsior (Kowalski, 2006) and F. angustifolia (Kirisits et al., 2009), are definitely known to be susceptible to the pathogen. The third species of ash native to Europe, F. ornus, was found to be less susceptible to the disease following field inoculations (Krautler and Kirisits, 2012). Other species in the same section of the genus (USDA-ARS, 2009) include: F. mandshurica, the cultivated F. holotricha in Europe; F.pallisiae, native to southeastern Europe; F.sogdiana in central Asia; and F. nigra, an ash native to North America (USDA-ARS, 2009). In Asia, H. fraxineus has only been recorded on F. mandshurica and F. chinensis. On these native hosts the fungus is apparently hemi-biotrophic and does not cause disease (Zhao et al., 2013). However, F. mandschurica was found to be mildly affected by ash dieback in south east Estonia (Drenkhan and Hanso, 2010). Three species of ash native to America have been investigated for susceptibility: F. nigra is badly affected, F. pennsylvanica shows slightly less severe symptoms whilst F. americana is the least affected (Drenkhan and Hanso, 2010). Stem inoculations of Acer pseudoplatanus and Sambucus nigra did not result in necrotic lesions (Kowalski and Holdenrieder, 2009a).

Ash trees of all ages are affected, although younger trees have been observed to succumb more rapidly. The disease first becomes visible in late summer as necrotic lesions form on leaflets. As the disease progresses symptoms include wilting and blackish discolouration of leaves, premature shedding of leaves, dieback of shoots, twigs and branches, necrosis of bark tissue, discrete necrotic cankers in the bark, diamond-shaped lesions on stems and a brownish to greyish discolouration of the inner bark and wood that often extends beyond the region of visible bark necrosis. Trees suffering from severe dieback may produce epicormic shoots (Halmschlager and Kirisits, 2008; Johansson et al., 2009; Kowalski and Holdenrieder, 2009a). Infection is non-systemic, however, in inoculated saplings, where mycelium has been observed in various tissue types including ray parenchyma, phloem fibres, and xylem vessels (Schumacher et al., 2010, Dal Maso et al., 2012, Cleary et al., 2013b). Hyphae grow intracellularly and occasionally form itrahyphal hyphae (Dal Maso et al., 2012). The fungus has been isolated from asymptomatic roots of inoculated ash (Fraxinus) saplings (Schumacher et al., 2010), but has also been found in dead roots of trees (Kowalski, 2006).

This fungus cannot be reliably isolated in culture (Lygis et al., 2005; Bakys et al., 2009a; Kowalski and Holdenrieder, 2009a) and is slow-growing (Kowalski and Holdenrieder, 2009b; Schumacher et al., 2010). Other fungi may overgrow it in culture or invade necrotic bark tissues in its cankers (Bakys et al., 2009b). Isolation from necrotic lesions has a higher success rate in autumn and winter, although isolation from pseudosclerotial rachises may be the most straightforward method (Gross and Holdenrieder, 2013).

Three PCR techniques for the detection of the fungus in infected plant tissue have been published, each using primers for sequences in the ITS region of rDNA to amplify DNA specific to H. fraxineus (Chandelier et al., 2009; Ioos et al., 2009; Johansson et al., 2009). The protocol of Johansson et al. (2009) uses the sequence of an intron in the region unique to this species within the genus Hymenoscyphus, whereas those of Chandelier et al. (2009) and Ioos et al. (2009, 2011) were tested against a number of Chalara species and other fungi that may be present in or on the lesions. The sequences of ITS regions of rDNA for the teleomorph and the anamorph are available in GenBank for comparison (NCBI, 2009).

Recently, Thi Lam Huong et al. (2013) demonstrated that H. fraxineus could be successfully identified in vitro and in vivo in infected ash leaves by mass spectrometry using specific secondary metabolites produced by the pathogen as markers for its presence.

The Chalara anamorph of H. fraxineus can be distinguished from other Chalara species (Nag Raj and Kendrick, 1975; McKenzie et al., 2002) by its small, short cylindrical, aseptate conidia (Kowalski, 2006). The teleomorph is differentiated from most other Hymenoscyphus species by its occurrence on Fraxinus and the dark superficial layer produced on the substrate at the base of the apothecium (Kowalski and Holdenrieder, 2009b).  H. fraxineus can be distinguished from H. albidus by the presence of croziers at the ascus base which are absent in the latter (Zhao et al., 2013); by the shape of crystals within the tissues of the stipe base; by the outer layer of hyphae over the flanks of the ectal excipulum, which are parallel in H. albidoides and interwoven in H. fraxineus; and by the fact that unlike H. fraxineus, H. albidus does not form an anamorphic stage and this is one way to distinguish between the species (Kirisits et al., 2013; Zheng and Zhuang, 2013).

Unlike most other dieback and canker-causing pathogens known to affect Fraxinus (Sinclair and Lyon, 2005), this fungus does not sporulate in pycnidia or perithecia and produces no obvious stromata in or on infected stems or branches. Complicating the diagnosis, some of those other fungi, including Fusarium species and Botryosphaeriastevensii, may be isolated from necrotic bark lesions caused by H. fraxineus (Bakys et al., 2009a,b; Kowalski and Holdenrieder, 2009a; Schumacher et al., 2010).

Symptoms of ash dieback are similar to those caused by the emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) (NAPPO, 2009), but the beetle is known to attack a wider range of Fraxinus species, and the larvae create S-shaped galleries in the sapwood, whereas emerging adults leave characteristic holes in the bark (APHIS, 2009; CFIA, 2009).

This fungus could cause losses of different severity depending on whether affected trees are in forests, planted as ornamentals, or raised in nurseries (Schumacher et al., 2010; Talgø et al., 2009). Kowalski (2006) reported that in Poland trees were killed in all age classes and regardless of site conditions. For more information on economic impacts in the UK, see Sansford (2013).

Trees can be observed for dieback symptoms, but these may be confused with those caused by other fungi or by insects, and H. fraxineus can be present in asymptomatic leaves (Bakys et al., 2009a,b). The other pathogens may be excluded from the diagnosis on the basis of the absence of their characteristic fruiting structures. However, the Chalara anamorph has seldom been observed sporulating in natural lesions (Kowalski and Holdenrieder, 2009a). The apothecia are produced on detached petioles in the leaf litter (Kowalski and Holdenrieder, 2009b), but may also occur on dead shoots (Kowalski and Holdenrieder, 2009a). Forestry Commission (2012) includes a pictorial guide and video of symptoms in the field.

As Schumacher et al. (2009) indicated, more research is needed concerning the source of inoculum, possible vectors, points of infection and the conditions of the infection process itself. Information on these may yield clues concerning the reason for the emergence of this disease (Kowalski and Holdenrieder, 2009b; NAPPO, 2009).

Variation in virulence amongst different strains of the pathogen requires further investigation, but see Bakys et al. (2009), Husson et al. (2011) and Kowalski and Holdenrieder (2009a). Furthermore, studies into disease severity along environmental gradients could offer insight into the role of the environment in determining disease outcome.

Virus mediated hypovirulence in European Castanea dentata has enabled this host to coexist with the otherwise highly destructive Chestnut canker pathogen, Cryphonectia parasitica. Work is therefore underway to identify viruses in H. fraxineus (Pliura et al., 2013).

A better understanding of the mechanism enabling the fungus to switch from hemi-biotrophic in its natural range to pathogenic on non-native hosts is needed (Gross et al., 2013). This would be facilitated by more detailed studies of the fungus in its natural range.

Genomic projects are underway to gain insights into host-pathogen interactions (MacLean et al., 2013). Some progress has already been made in identifying putative virulence factors. Clones of the known susceptible species and other Fraxinus species should be tested by inoculation to identify sources of resistance as well as to establish the possible host range for the pathogen in Europe and elsewhere.

The use of molecular methods to test nursery trees for infection may validate these molecular methods and provide data for determination of the need for quarantines to prevent spread of the fungus from nurseries.