scholarly journals Periodicity in Host Availability Does Not Account for Evolutionary Branching as Observed in Many Plant Pathogens: An Application to Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici

2010 ◽  
Vol 100 (11) ◽  
pp. 1169-1175 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. van den Berg ◽  
C. A. Gilligan ◽  
D. J. Bailey ◽  
F. van den Bosch

Periodicity in host availability is common in agricultural systems. Although it is known to have profound effects on plant pathogen abundance, the evolutionary consequences of periodicity for the pathogen population have not previously been analyzed. An epidemiological model incorporating periodic absence of the host crop is combined with the theory of adaptive dynamics to determine whether or not seasonality in host presence plays a role in the occurrence of evolutionary branching, leading to coexisting yet genetically distinct pathogen phenotypes. The study is motivated and illustrated by the specific example of take-all disease of wheat, caused by the pathogen Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici, for which two coexisting but genetically distinct types and a trade-off related to seasonality in host presence have been identified. Numerical simulations are used to show that a trade-off between the pathogen transmission rate and the survival of the pathogen between cropping seasons cannot account for the evolutionary branching observed in many pathogens. Model elaborations show that this conclusion holds for a broad range of putative mechanisms. Although the analysis is motivated and illustrated by the specific example of take-all of wheat, the results apply to a broad range of pathogens.

Author(s):  
Ivana Gudelj ◽  
Ciprian D Coman ◽  
Robert E Beardmore

In this paper we use a system of non-local reaction–diffusion equations to study the effect of host heterogeneity on the phenotypic evolution of a pathogen population. The evolving phenotype is taken to be the transmission rate of the pathogen on the different hosts, and in our system there are two host populations present. The central feature of our model is a trade-off relationship between the transmission rates on these hosts, which means that an increase in the pathogen transmission on one host will lead to a decrease in the pathogen transmission on the other. The purpose of the paper is to develop a classification of phenotypic diversity as a function of the shape of the trade-off relationship and this is achieved by determining the maximum number of phenotypes a pathogen population can support in the long term, for a given form of the trade-off. Our findings are then compared with results obtained by applying classical theory from evolutionary ecology and the more recent adaptive dynamics method to the same host–pathogen system. We find our work to be in good agreement with these two approaches.


2010 ◽  
Vol 100 (5) ◽  
pp. 404-414 ◽  
Author(s):  
Youn-Sig Kwak ◽  
Peter A. H. M. Bakker ◽  
Debora C. M. Glandorf ◽  
Jennifer T. Rice ◽  
Timothy C. Paulitz ◽  
...  

Dark pigmented fungi of the Gaeumannomyces–Phialophora complex were isolated from the roots of wheat grown in fields in eastern Washington State. These fungi were identified as Phialophora spp. on the basis of morphological and genetic characteristics. The isolates produced lobed hyphopodia on wheat coleoptiles, phialides, and hyaline phialospores. Sequence comparison of internal transcribed spacer regions indicated that the Phialophora isolates were clearly separated from other Gaeumannomyces spp. Primers AV1 and AV3 amplified 1.3-kb portions of an avenacinase-like gene in the Phialophora isolates. Phylogenetic trees of the avenacinase-like gene in the Phialophora spp. also clearly separated them from other Gaeumannomyces spp. The Phialophora isolates were moderately virulent on wheat and barley and produced confined black lesions on the roots of wild oat and two oat cultivars. Among isolates tested for their sensitivity to 2,4-diacetylphloroglucinol (2,4-DAPG), the 90% effective dose values were 11.9 to 48.2 μg ml–1. A representative Phialophora isolate reduced the severity of take-all on wheat caused by two different isolates of Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici. To our knowledge, this study provides the first report of an avenacinase-like gene in Phialophora spp. and demonstrated that the fungus is significantly less sensitive to 2,4-DAPG than G. graminis var. tritici.


Author(s):  
J. Walker

Abstract A description is provided for Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici. Information is included on the disease caused by the organism, its transmission, geographical distribution, and hosts. HOSTS: Gramineae, especially Triticum, Hordeum, Secale, Agropyron and several other grass genera and, more rarely, Sorghum and Zea; also recorded from the roots of plants in other families. DISEASE: Take-all of cereals and grasses (also referred to as deadheads or whiteheads, pietin and pied noir (France), Schwarzbeinigkeit and Ophiobolus Fusskrankheit (Germany), Ophiobolusvoetziekt (Netherlands) and others). Root infection is favoured by soil temperature from 12-20°C (Butler, 1961). Ascospore germ tubes penetrate root hairs and the epidermis in the meristematic region (Weste, 1972) leading to plugging of xylem and root death. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION: (CMI Map 334, ed. 3, 1972). Widespread, especially in temperate zones. Africa; Asia (India, Iran, Japan, USSR): Australasia and Oceania; Europe; North America (Canada, USA); South America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Uruguay). TRANSMISSION: In soil on infected organic fragments, as runner hyphae on roots of cereals and grasses and, under special conditions, by ascospores. Seed transmission very doubtful (47, 3058).


1984 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 735 ◽  
Author(s):  
MJ Wood ◽  
AD Robson

Wheat was grown in a soil at five levels of copper (ranging from levels deficient, to those luxurious, for plant growth), in the presence or absence of introduced take-all inoculum (oat kernels colonized by Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritica). The incidence and severity of take-all were related to the copper supply and hence the copper status of the wheat. Plants grown without applied copper were more severely infected by take-all than were those grown with an adequate or luxurious supply of copper. The number of lesions per gram fresh weight of roots was reduced from 6.5 to 2.4 by increasing the copper supply from that severely deficient, to that adequate for plant growth. In seminal roots, increasing the copper supply from levels severely deficient to those adequate or luxurious for plant growth, decreased the length of proximal lesions (those closest to the seed). By contrast, in nodal roots, a similar increase in copper supply had no effect on the length of proximal lesions, but increased the length of uninfected root between the crown and proximal lesions. In both seminal and nodal roots, copper supply did not affect the intensity of lesions.


1993 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 745 ◽  
Author(s):  
RF Eastwood ◽  
JF Kollmorgen ◽  
M Hannah

Reactions of 398 accessions of Triticum tawchii to the take-all fungus [Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici (Ggt] were assessed. Nineteen accessions were selected for more detailed studies. T. tauschii accessions were identified that had less tissue blackening and more remaining green tissue when challenged by the fungus than the susceptible T. aestivum cv. Condor. However, tissue blackening in the T. tauschii accessions was much greater than that in Avena sativa cv. New Zealand Cape. Synthetic allohexaploid wheats produced from different Triticum turgidum var. durum (genome AABB) accessions and accessions of T. tauschii (genome DD) which had low tissue blackening or high remaining green tissue had more tissue blackening and less remaining green tissue than the T. tauschii parents. The potential of this material for breeding take-all resistant wheats together with experimental methods to minimize the possible confounding effects of seed weight, seed source and genetic effects are discussed.


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