sp. nov., a New Fusarium Wilt Pathogen of Cavendish Banana from the Philippines Belonging to the Species Complex.

The pathogen causing Fusarium wilt in banana is reported to be f. sp. (FOC). In 2019, wilt symptoms in banana plants (cultivar: Cavendish) in the Philippines were detected, i.e., the yellowing of the leaves and discoloration of the pseudostem and vascular tissue. The fungus isolated from the vascular tissue was found to be pathogenic to Cavendish bananas and was identified as a new species, , belonging to the species complex (FFSC); species classification was assessed using molecular phylogenetic analyses based on the , , , , and genes and morphological analyses. A reciprocal blast search using genomic data revealed that this fungus exclusively included the () gene among the homologs related to pathogenicity; it exhibited a highly conserved amino acid sequence compared with that of species in the FFSC, but not with that of FOC. This was the first report of Fusarium wilt in Cavendish bananas caused by a species of the genus other than those in the species complex.