Skip to content
Phytophthora infestans

File:Late_blight_on_potato_leaf_2.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

EntityQ149072· pop 50· linked from 320 articles

Phytophthora infestans

Sign in to save

microorganism that causes late blight

Species

Phytophthora infestans

SPECIES

  1. KingdomChromista
  2. PhylumOomycota
  3. ClassPeronosporea
  4. OrderPeronosporales
  5. FamilyPeronosporaceae
Observations recorded4,593

Phytophthora infestans Le mildiou de la pomme de terre est une maladie cryptogamique causée par un oomycète de la famille des Pythiaceae, Phytophthora infestans, micro-organisme eucaryote longtemps considéré comme un champignon. Répandue dans le monde entier, cette maladie est le principal ennemi des cultures de pommes de terre, et fut responsable de la grande famine européenne des années 1840 qui frappa particulièrement l'Irlande et la région écossaise des Highlands. Cette espèce affecte également les cultures de tomates et d'autres Solanaceae.

via GBIF

Museum specimens

Specimen records
1,029
With media
437
Family
Sclerotiniaceae
Collections
CUP, NCU, FLAS, LSUM, ILLS, BPI
Recorded in
United States, Switzerland

~32 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Phytophthora infestans is an oomycete or water mold, a fungus-like microorganism (oomycete) that causes the serious potato and tomato disease known as late blight or potato blight. Early blight, caused by Alternaria solani, is also often called "potato blight". Late blight was a major culprit in the 1840s European, the 1845–1852 Irish, and the 1846 Highland potato famines. The organism can also infect some other members of the Solanaceae. The pathogen is favored by moist, cool environments: sporulation is optimal at 12–18 °C (54–64 °F) in water-saturated or nearly saturated environments, and zoospore production is favored at temperatures below 15 °C (59 °F). Lesion growth rates are typically optimal at a slightly warmer temperature range of 20 to 24 °C (68 to 75 °F).

Etymology

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Phytophthora infestans” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (13)