Morphology and Molecular Characteristics of Alternaria sonchi Causing Brown Leaf Spot on Sonchus asper in Korea

During a disease survey on weeds and minor cultivated crops in Korea, a brown leaf spot disease was ob- served on Sonchus asper. Leaf lesions were round or irregular in shape, and grayish brown to brown with a purple margin. In severe infection, lesions enlarged and coalesced, resulting in blighting of the leaves. The isolates from these leaf lesions were identified as Alternaira sonchi based on morphological characteristics and phylogenetic analyses of Internal transcribed spacer region, Alternaria allergen a1, glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase, RNA polymerase II, and translation elongation factor genes. This study pro- vides a comprehensive description of the morphological characteristics and phylogenetical traits of A. sonchi causing brown leaf spot on S. asper in Korea.