First Report on the Presence of Phyllachora sp. in Corn Crops at Toluca

Symptoms of Tar Spot Complex (TSC) in corn appear in the form of black spots surrounded by a chlorotic halo known as fish-eye. The crop with these symptoms was found at San Pablo Autopan, Estado de Mexico. The stromal region of foliar lesions was cut longitudinally, showing perithecia, asci and ascospores typical of Phyllachora maydis. The results were confirmed by PCR-ITS with ITS 1 and ITS4 initiators, cloned by pJET, before being sequenced and compared against NCBI’s data base. Phyllachora identity was confirmed. This is the first report where TSC pathogen has been detected under conditions that had not been previously reported, for instance, at 2600 meters above the sea level.