Macroscopic and Molecular Approaches for Identification of Fungi Associated with Azanza garckeana

Background and Objective: Azanza garckeana, is an important African shrub for its medical and economic benefits. However, more research is needed on the molecular identification of fungi associated with it. In this research, macroscopic morphology and molecular techniques were used to identify the genus of the fungal pathogens causing deterioration of goron tula fruit. Materials and Methods: Macroscopic identification was based on the characteristics of the fungus grown on the Potato Dextrose Agar plate and the molecular identification was based on the DNA of the fungal isolate. The DNA of the fungal isolate, GR-3E was characterized using Internal Transcribed Spacer 1 and 4 molecular markers and aligned by the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool for Nucleotide (BLASTN) 2.8.0 of National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database. Based on sequence similarity, it was observed that isolate GR-3E was 98.96% identical to Aspergillus candidus. Results: The results indicated that the GR-3E isolate sequence was 100% identical to Aspergillus candidus isolate. These findings showed that Aspergillus candidus is one of the causal fungal pathogens of post-harvest rot infecting goron tula fruits. To determine the link between the isolates collected from this study, a phylogenetic tree was built. Conclusion: Some information on the fungus that causes goron tula decay has been provided by this study. This outcome is expected to give insights into a disease control strategy to mitigate post-harvest losses of goron tula fruits brought on by A. candidus and lay the groundwork for additional research on the potential risks associated with consuming infected goron tula.