White pine blister rust in Korea, Japan and other Asian regions: comparisons and implications for North America

Four of eight white pine species native to western North America surveyed for resistance to white pine blister rust by artificial inoculation showed classical hypersensitive reactions (HR) at frequencies ranging from very low to moderate. Mendelian segregation, indicating a single dominant allele for resistance (Cr3), was observed in southwestern white pine (Pinus strobiformis), as it was previously in sugar pine (P. lambertiana, Cr1) and western white pine (P. monticola, Cr2). HR was present at a relatively high frequency (19%) in one of five bulk seed lot sources of limber pine (P. flexilis), and was also presumed to be conditioned by a single gene locus, by analogy with the other three species. HR was not found in whitebark pine (P. albcaulis), Mexican white pine (P. ayacahuite), foxtail pine (P. balfouriana), or Great Basin bristlecone pine (P. longaeva), but population and sample sizes in these species may have been below the level of detection of alleles in low frequency. When challenged by (haploid) inocula from specific locations known to harbor virulence to Cr1 or Cr2, genotypes carrying these alleles and Cr3 reacted differentially, such that inoculum virulent to Cr1 was avirulent to Cr2, and inoculum virulent to Cr2 was avirulent to Cr1. Neither of these two inocula was capable of neutralizing Cr3. Although blister rust traditionally is considered an exotic disease in North America, these results, typical of classic gene-for-gene interactions, suggest that genetic memory of similar encounters in past epochs has been retained in this pathosystem.

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White Pine Blister Rust

Plant Health Progress ◽

10.1094/php-2001-0924-01-hm ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 10 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Otis C. Maloy

Keyword(s):

North America ◽

Rust Fungus ◽

White Pine Blister Rust ◽

Alternate Host ◽

White Pine ◽

Management Tools ◽

Disease Cycle ◽

Blister Rust ◽

Western White Pine ◽

Pine Stands

White pine blister rust is probably the most destructive disease of five-needle (white) pines in North America. The rust fungus cannot spread from pine to pine but requires an alternate host, Ribes species, to complete the disease cycle. Several management tools might enable the reestablishment of western white pine stands. Accepted for publication 20 September 2001. Published 24 September 2001.

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Assessing host specialization among aecial and telial hosts of the white pine blister rust fungus, Cronartium ribicola

Canadian Journal of Botany ◽

10.1139/b07-031 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 85 (3) ◽

pp. 299-306 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Bryce A. Richardson ◽

Paul J. Zambino ◽

Ned B. Klopfenstein ◽

Geral I. McDonald ◽

Lori M. Carris

Keyword(s):

North America ◽

Rust Fungus ◽

Host Specialization ◽

Cronartium Ribicola ◽

White Pine Blister Rust ◽

White Pine ◽

Host Association ◽

Geographic Population ◽

Blister Rust ◽

Low Genetic Diversity

The white-pine blister rust fungus, Cronartium ribicola Fisch. in Rabenh., continues to spread in North America, utilizing various aecial (primary) and telial (alternate) hosts, some of which have only recently been discovered. This introduced pathogen has been characterized as having low genetic diversity in North America, yet it has demonstrated a capacity to invade diverse environments. The recent discovery of this rust fungus on the telial host Pedicularis racemosa Dougl. ex Benth., raises questions of whether this host association represents a recent acquisition by C. ribicola or a long-standing host association that was overlooked. Here we explore two questions: (i) is host specialization detectable at a local scale and (ii) is the capacity to infect Pedicularis racemosa local or widespread? Genetic analysis of C. ribicola isolates from different aecial and telial hosts provided no evidence for genetic differentiation and showed similar levels of expected heterozygosity within a geographic population. An inoculation test showed that diverse C. ribicola sources from across North America had the capacity to infect Pedicularis racemosa. These results support a hypothesis that ability to infect Pedicularis racemosa is common in C. ribicola from North America. Utilization of Pedicularis racemosa by C. ribicola may be dependent on the co-occurrence of this host, inoculum, and favorable environments.

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White Pine Blister Rust in the Greater Yellowstone Area

The UW National Parks Service Research Station Annual Reports ◽

10.13001/uwnpsrc.2001.3483 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 25 ◽

pp. 144-148

Author(s):

Maria Newcomb ◽

Diana Six

Keyword(s):

North America ◽

Plant Disease Resistance ◽

Fungal Pathogen ◽

Field Investigation ◽

Molecular Techniques ◽

White Pine Blister Rust ◽

White Pine ◽

Blister Rust ◽

Greater Yellowstone Area ◽

Greater Yellowstone

White pine blister rust is a disease caused by an introduced fungal pathogen (Cronartium ribicola). The disease system is a complex cross-Kingdom interaction between three groups of organisms (white pines, Ribes, and a fungal pathogen). The pathogen alternates between white pine hosts (subgenus Strobus) where it persists as a perennial and often lethal infection, and currant and goosebeny hosts (members of the genus Ribes) where it infects the deciduous leaves and results in relatively minor impacts. In many areas of North America white pines are severely threatened by the disease, which is often recognized as the most devastating disease of conifers (Klinkowski 1970). Since the early 1900s when the pathogen first arrived in North America, forest managers have been challenged by the difficulties of blister rust control and predictions of damage and spread. Recent control efforts have focused on developing rust-resistant white pines (Maloy 1997). Advances in molecular techniques have led to a rapid increase in our understanding of pathogen virulence and plant disease resistance. Thus thorough research on white pine blister rust will encompass a combination of investigations of small parts of the system, including molecular descriptions of individual members and controlled-environment studies of simplified interactions, and ecological investigations of infection patterns in real-world forest conditions (where all the parts are interacting simultaneously). This study is a field investigation of white pine blister rust in the Greater Yellowstone Area (GYA).

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History of the Origin and Dispersal of White Pine Blister Rust

HortTechnology ◽

10.21273/horttech.10.3.515 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 10 (3) ◽

pp. 515-517 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Kim E. Hummer

Keyword(s):

North America ◽

Eastern Europe ◽

Pacific Northwest ◽

North American ◽

White Pine Blister Rust ◽

Ural Mountains ◽

White Pine ◽

Blister Rust ◽

The North ◽

Canadian Provinces

The center of diversity for white pine blister rust (WPBR) (Cronartium ribicola J.C. Fischer) most likely stretches from central Siberia east of the Ural Mountains to Asia, possibly bounded by the Himalayas to the south. The alternate hosts for WPBR, Asian five-needled pines (Pinus L.) and Ribes L. native to that region have developed WPBR resistance. Because the dispersal of C. ribicola to Europe and North America occurred within the last several hundred years, the North American five-needled white pines, Pinus subsections, Strobus and Parya, had no previous selection pressure to develop resistance. Establishment of WPBR in North American resulted when plants were transported both ways across the Atlantic Ocean. In 1705, Lord Weymouth had white pine (P. strobis L.), also called weymouth pine in Europe, seed and seedlings brought to England. These trees were planted throughout eastern Europe. In the mid-1800s, WPBR outbreaks were reported in Ribes and then in white pines in eastern Europe. The pathogen may have been brought to Europe on an infected pine from Russia. In the late 1800s American nurserymen, unaware of the European rust incidence, imported many infected white pine seedlings from France and Germany for reforestation efforts. By 1914, rust-infected white pine nursery stock was imported into Connecticut, Indiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Wisconsin, and in the Canadian provinces of Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia. The range of WPBR is established in eastern North America and the Pacific Northwest. New infection sites in Nevada, South Dakota, New Mexico and Colorado have been observed during the 1990s.

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White Pine Blister Rust in North America: Past and Prognosis

Phytopathology ◽

10.1094/phyto.2003.93.8.1044 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 93 (8) ◽

pp. 1044-1047 ◽

Cited By ~ 96

Author(s):

Bohun B. Kinloch

Keyword(s):

North America ◽

Resistance Genes ◽

Major Gene ◽

Genetic Resistance ◽

Control Measures ◽

White Pine Blister Rust ◽

White Pine ◽

Blister Rust ◽

Improvement Programs ◽

Ribes Spp

After a full century in North America, the blister rust epidemic has yet to stabilize, continuing to spread into warmer and drier areas previously considered climatically inhospitable. The disease apparently has no environmental limits wherever white pines and Ribes spp. cohabit and will eventually become pandemic. Although much timber value has been lost, more severe long-term damage is disruption caused to ecosystems by altered patterns of natural succession. During the last half of the century just past, development of genetic resistance superceded other direct control measures—mainly Ribes spp. eradication and antibiotics—which proved ineffective and/or unfeasible in large areas of the white pine range, especially in the West. Several mechanisms of complete (major gene) and partial resistance are common to at least several white pine species. Although North American populations of rust have low genetic variability overall, rust genotypes with specific virulence to major resistance genes exist in some local demes at high frequencies. The challenge will be to package and deploy resistance genes in ways that will dampen sudden increases in rust races of wide virulence. New introductions of blister rust from its gene center in Asia remain the gravest threat to genetic improvement programs.

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Assessing Potential Risks of White Pine Blister Rust on Western White Pine from Increased Cultivation of Currants

HortTechnology ◽

10.21273/horttech.10.3.523 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 10 (3) ◽

pp. 523-527 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

John A. Muir ◽

Richard S. Hunt

Keyword(s):

North America ◽

Tree Species ◽

Forest Tree ◽

White Pine Blister Rust ◽

Pinus Monticola ◽

White Pine ◽

Blister Rust ◽

Commercial Cultivation ◽

Forest Practices ◽

Western White Pine

Introductions of white pine blister rust (WPBR, causal fungus: Cronartium ribicola J.C. Fischer) to eastern and western North America before 1915 caused such extensive damage that western white pine (Pinus monticola D. Don) was essentially abandoned as a manageable forest tree species for over 60 years. Recent results from WPBR resistance selection and breeding programs, and from field trials of tree spacing, pruning and bark excision treatments have supported efforts to increase establishment and to intensively manage western white pine. Western white pine is a desirable component in many forested areas because of its faster growth and much higher value compared to many other associated tree species. It also has a low susceptibility to armillaria root disease caused by Armillaria ostoyae (Romagnesi) Herink and laminated root rot, caused by Phellinus weirii (Murr.) Gilb. Some regulations, e.g., Forest Practices Code of British Columbia (BC) Act, require anyone who harvests timber on provincial forestland and uses western white pine for reforestation to either plant genetically resistant western white pine stock or prune susceptible young trees for protection. Risks of increased WPBR associated with increased commercial cultivation of gooseberries and currants (Ribes L.) have yet to be determined. However, major threats appear to include 1) increase in local amounts of spores for nearby infection of pines; and 2) possible introductions or development of new, virulent races of C. ribicola, particularly from eastern to Pacific northwestern North America. In view of these possible threats, we recommend that existing regulations and legislation should be amended, or possibly new measures enacted, to permit propagation and commercial cultivation only of varieties of Ribes that are immune or highly resistant to WPBR.

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Influence of Host Resistance on the Genetic Structure of the White Pine Blister Rust Fungus in the Western United States

Phytopathology ◽

10.1094/phyto-98-4-0413 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 98 (4) ◽

pp. 413-420 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

B. A. Richardson ◽

N. B. Klopfenstein ◽

P. J. Zambino ◽

G. I. McDonald ◽

B. W. Geils ◽

...

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Genetic Structure ◽

North America ◽

Major Gene ◽

Western United States ◽

White Pine Blister Rust ◽

White Pine ◽

Blister Rust ◽

Major Gene Resistance ◽

Sugar Pine

Cronartium ribicola, the causal agent of white pine blister rust, has been devastating to five-needled white pines in North America since its introduction nearly a century ago. However, dynamic and complex interactions occur among C. ribicola, five-needled white pines, and the environment. To examine potential evolutionary influences on genetic structure and diversity of C. ribicola in western United States, population genetic analyses of C. ribicola were conducted using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) molecular markers. The fungus was sampled at six sites. Collections for two of the six sites were from separate plantings of resistant-selected western white pine and sugar pine. Heterozygosity based on polymorphic loci among populations ranged from 0.28 to 0.40, with resistant-selected plantations at the extremes. Genetic differentiation was also highest between these two populations. Principal coordinates analysis and Bayesian assignment placed most isolates that are putative carriers of virulence to major-gene resistance into a discernable cluster, while other isolates showed no clustering by site or host species. These results indicate that C. ribicola in western North America is not genetically uniform, despite its presumed single site of introduction and relatively brief residence. Moreover, major-gene resistance appears to have imposed strong selection on the rust, resulting in reduced genetic diversity. In contrast, no evidence of selection was observed in C. ribicola from hosts that exhibit only multigenic resistance.

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Ribes: A View from the Other Side

HortTechnology ◽

10.21273/horttech.10.3.565 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 10 (3) ◽

pp. 565-566 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Ed Mashburn

Keyword(s):

North America ◽

The United States ◽

The Other ◽

White Pine Blister Rust ◽

Ribes Nigrum ◽

White Pine ◽

Blister Rust ◽

The People ◽

State Restrictions ◽

Holistic Manner

In North America for many years the commonly held solution to white pine blister rust (Cronartium ribicola J.C. Fischer) (WPBR) was to eradicate all currants and gooseberries (Ribes L.). That approach was tried to no avail. Can currants and gooseberries be successfully grown in North America? You bet they can! Vast areas of the United States and Canada are ideal for Ribes production. Black currants (Ribes nigrum L.) are a processed fruit and production may compare to that of grain. Many of the areas that presently grow other berries could easily grow Ribes. The main barriers for production in North America are state restrictions and the availability of up-to-date information and data for growers, processors, legislators and the consuming public. I suggest that this conference and the people herein form that task group and initiate the cooperative dialogue and set forth a process to approach the WPBR problem in a holistic manner.

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Potential for Ribes Cultivation in North America

HortTechnology ◽

10.21273/horttech.10.3.548 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 10 (3) ◽

pp. 548-554 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Adam Dale

Keyword(s):

North America ◽

Powdery Mildew ◽

Vitamin C ◽

New World ◽

White Pine Blister Rust ◽

White Pine ◽

Blister Rust ◽

Wide Range ◽

Chilling Hours ◽

New Cultivars

Fruit from black, red and white currants, and gooseberries (Ribes L.) were grown commercially in North America at the beginning of the 20th Century. However, when white pine blister rust (WPBR) (Cronartium ribicola J. C. Fisch.) was introduced into the new world, their cultivation was discontinued. About 825,000 t (908,000 tons) of Ribes fruit are produced worldwide, almost entirely in Europe. The fruit is high in vitamin C, and is used to produce juice, and many other products. Now a wide range of imported Ribes products is available particularly in Canada, and the pick-your-own (PYO) market is increasing. Two diseases, powdery mildew [Spaerotheca mors-uvae (Schwein.) Berk. & Curt.] and WPBR, are the major problems encountered by growers. Fortunately, many new cultivars are resistant to these two diseases. Commercial acreage of Ribes in North America is located where the growing day degrees above 5 °C (41 °F), and the annual chilling hours are at least 1200. Initially, the Ribes industry will develop as PYO and for farm markets. But for a large industry to develop, juice products will needed. Our costs of production figures indicate that about 850 Canadian dollars ($CDN) per 1.0 t (1.1 tons) of fruit will be required to break even.

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