{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,11]],"date-time":"2026-10-11T03:25:53Z","timestamp":1791689153488,"version":"4.3.4"},"reference-count":62,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,11]],"date-time":"2025-09-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1757548800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Plant Sci."],"abstract":"<jats:p>Neonectria fruit rot (NFR) is primarily attributed to <jats:italic>Neonectria ditissima<\/jats:italic>, the causal agent of European canker, in many apple-growing regions globally. Between 2017 and 2019, NFR-like symptoms were observed in several surveyed apple and pear packinghouses in Washington State and Oregon. In this study, 52 <jats:italic>Neonectria<\/jats:italic> isolates were characterized using a multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA), pathogenicity assays, and morphological traits across various growth media and photoperiods. MLSA analysis of four DNA regions, i.e., <jats:italic>\u03b2-TUB, TEF1<\/jats:italic>, LSU, and ITS rDNA, identified the pathogen as <jats:italic>Neonectria candida<\/jats:italic> (syn. <jats:italic>Neonectria ramulariae<\/jats:italic>, anamorph <jats:italic>Cylindrocarpon obtusiusculum<\/jats:italic>). All the 52 <jats:italic>N. candida<\/jats:italic> isolates formed a distinct clade from <jats:italic>N. ditissima<\/jats:italic> and other <jats:italic>Neonectria<\/jats:italic> spp. with a Bayesian interference posterior probability of 0.98. Fruit pathogenicity assays showed that <jats:italic>N. candida<\/jats:italic> isolates caused light brown lesions on \u2018Fuji\u2019 apples and \u2018Green d\u2019Anjou\u2019 pears both at room temperature (22\u00b0C) and cold storage (0.5 and 1.5\u00b0C), with NFR incidences ranging from 6 to 100% after 15 days to four months. <jats:italic>N. candida<\/jats:italic> isolates grew and sporulated profusely under a multitude of nutrient and photoperiod conditions <jats:italic>in vitro<\/jats:italic>. This study is a foundational step towards species identification and understanding the biology and epidemiology of NFR to support the development of effective management approaches.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpls.2025.1661560","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,11]],"date-time":"2025-09-11T05:26:30Z","timestamp":1757568390000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Morpho-phylogenic characterization of Neonectria candida as a causal agent of a postharvest rot of pome fruit in the U.S. Pacific Northwest"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Joseph K.","family":"Mellow","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Arild R.","family":"Arifin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Achour","family":"Amiri","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,11]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"533","DOI":"10.1094\/PDIS-07-17-1014-RE","article-title":"Sensitivity of Phacidiopycnis spp. isolates from pome fruit to six pre- and postharvest fungicides","volume":"102","author":"Ali","year":"2018","journal-title":"Plant Dis."},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"73","DOI":"10.30843\/nzpp.2017.70.30","article-title":"Seasonal susceptibility of apple trees to Neonectria ditissima wound infections","volume":"70","author":"Alves","year":"2017","journal-title":"New Zeal. 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