Floricolous downy mildews (Peronospora, oomycetes) are a small, monophyletic group of mostly inconspicuous plant pathogens that induce symptoms exclusively on flowers. Characterization of this group of pathogens, and information about their biology, is particularly sparse. The recurrent presence of a disease causing flower malformation which, in turn, leads to high production losses of the medicinal herb Matricaria chamomilla in Serbia has enabled continuous experiments focusing on the pathogen and its biology. Peronospora radii was identified as the causal agent of the disease, and morphologically and molecularly characterized. Diseased chamomile flowers showed severe malformations of the disc and ray florets, including phyllody and secondary inflorescence formation, followed by the onset of downy mildew. Phylogeny, based on internal transcribed spacer and cox2, indicates clustering of the Serbian P. radii with other P. radii from chamomile although, in cox2 analyses, they formed a separate subcluster. Evidence pointing to systemic infection was provided through histological and molecular analyses, with related experiments validating the impact of soilborne and blossom infections. This study provides new findings in the biology of P. radii on chamomile, thus enabling the reconstruction of this floricolous Peronospora species' life cycle.
Keywords: Matricaria chamomilla; ecology and epidemiology; life cycle; systemic infection.