Three Species, Including a New Species, Causing Leaf Spot Disease of Loquat () in China.

Loquat () is an economically important subtropical fruit crop in China. Field surveys conducted in different loquat orchards located in Chongqing, Sichuan, and Fujian provinces between 2017 and 2020 resulted in a collection of 56 -like isolates from trees exhibiting symptoms of loquat leaf spot. Multigene phylogenetic analyses using seven gene regions, namely, ITS, , , , , , and OPA10-2, showed that all the isolates belonged to the genus , and supporting morphological analysis identified them as members of species , , and sp. nov. In vitro and in vivo pathogenicity tests showed all the identified species to be pathogenic and able to cause leaf spot disease on loquat. Moreover, comprehensive phylogenetic analyses employing all combinations of the above seven gene sequences revealed the capability of -- to provide a well-resolved gene tree for spp. at the species level. This study adds to the current knowledge on an unknown species ( sp. nov.) and is the first report of in loquat worldwide.