Fungus Fact Friday

Tagged: chocolate

the impact of fungi on chocolate

#113: Moniliophthora perniciosa, Witches’ Broom Disease of Cacao Trees 1

Fungus Fact

#113: Moniliophthora perniciosa, Witches’ Broom Disease of Cacao Trees

Witches might not be real, but witches’ brooms certainly are – and they’re destroying chocolate! Yes, Halloween’s favorite treat (chocolate) is suffering at the hands of a disease with a Halloween-themed name: Witches’ Broom Disease.  Witches’ brooms are actually fairly common and occur on many different plants.  In chocolate trees (Cacao trees, Theobroma cacao, whose genus name literally means “food of the gods”), witches’ brooms are caused by the fungal pathogen Moniliophthora perniciosa and have an enormous economic impact on chocolate production in Central and South America.

#068: Frosty Pod Rot Disease of Cacao Trees 1

Fungus Fact

#068: Frosty Pod Rot Disease of Cacao Trees

Frosty Pod Rot, caused by the fungus Moniliophthora roreri, is one of the most significant pathogens of cacao trees (Theobroma cacao). The disease has been around a long time: it was first recognized in Ecuador in 1917 and first described in 1933.  roreri likely evolved in Columbia, where the greatest diversity of the species is located and where cultivated cacao trees grow near closely related trees.  Up until the 1950’s, Frosty Pod Rot was limited to northwestern South America.  Since then, it has spread throughout Central America and into Peru and Venezuela.  In these areas, Frosty Pod Rot is the most destructive cacao disease, resulting in the loss of about 30-40% of total production.  The disease has not yet made it to Asia or Africa, where most of the world’s chocolate is produced, but it may just be a matter of time.

#024: Fungi in the Production of Chocolate 1

Fungus Fact

#024: Fungi in the Production of Chocolate

Along with red roses and cheesy cards, chocolate is one of the common Valentine’s Day gifts. So on this day when heart-shaped boxes of chocolates are a common sight, I thought you might like to learn a little about how chocolate gets from the cocoa beans to the cloying boxes (be thankful I didn’t decide to discuss fungal diseases you can get from roses).  You probably already know that chocolate comes from the seeds of the cacao tree, Theobroma cacao.  The first way in which fungi allow for the production of chocolate is by helping the cacao tree to grow.  In order to get nutrients required for growth, all trees participate in mutualistic relationships with fungi called mycorrhizae.  There are a number of types of mycorrhizae, but Theobroma cacao only forms endomycorrhize.  In these mycorrhize, fungi in the phylum Glomeromycota penetrate the root cells of the tree and form specialized...