Dataset Information

Distribution of the anther-smut pathogen Microbotryum on species of the Caryophyllaceae.

ABSTRACT: *Understanding disease distributions is of fundamental and applied importance, yet few studies benefit from integrating broad sampling with ecological and phylogenetic data. Here, anther-smut disease, caused by the fungus Microbotryum, was assessed using herbarium specimens of Silene and allied genera of the Caryophyllaceae. *A total of 42,000 herbarium specimens were examined, and plant geographical distributions and morphological and life history characteristics were tested as correlates of disease occurrence. Phylogenetic comparative methods were used to determine the association between disease and plant life-span. *Disease was found on 391 herbarium specimens from 114 species and all continents with native Silene. Anther smut occurred exclusively on perennial plants, consistent with the pathogen requiring living hosts to overwinter. The disease was estimated to occur in 80% of perennial species of Silene and allied genera. The correlation between plant life-span and disease was highly significant while controlling for the plant phylogeny, but the disease was not correlated with differences in floral morphology. *Using resources available in natural history collections, this study illustrates how disease distribution can be determined, not by restriction to a clade of susceptible hosts or to a limited geographical region, but by association with host life-span, a trait that has undergone frequent evolutionary transitions.

SUBMITTER: Hood ME

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3487183 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Distribution of the anther-smut pathogen Microbotryum on species of the Caryophyllaceae.

Hood Michael E ME Mena-Alí Jorge I JI Gibson Amanda K AK Oxelman Bengt B Giraud Tatiana T Yockteng Roxana R Arroyo Mary T K MTK Conti Fabio F Pedersen Amy B AB Gladieux Pierre P Antonovics Janis J

The New phytologist 20100412 1

*Understanding disease distributions is of fundamental and applied importance, yet few studies benefit from integrating broad sampling with ecological and phylogenetic data. Here, anther-smut disease, caused by the fungus Microbotryum, was assessed using herbarium specimens of Silene and allied genera of the Caryophyllaceae. *A total of 42,000 herbarium specimens were examined, and plant geographical distributions and morphological and life history characteristics were tested as correlates of di ...[more]

PMID: 20406409

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Project description:BackgroundAnther-smut fungi belonging to the genus Microbotryum sterilize their host plants by aborting ovaries and replacing pollen by fungal spores. Sibling Microbotryum species are highly specialized on their host plants and they have been widely used as models for studies of ecology and evolution of plant pathogenic fungi. However, most studies have focused, so far, on M. lychnidis-dioicae that parasitizes the white campion Silene latifolia. Microbotryum saponariae, parasitizing mainly Saponaria officinalis, is an interesting anther-smut fungus, since it belongs to a tetrapolar lineage (i.e., with two independently segregating mating-type loci), while most of the anther-smut Microbotryum fungi are bipolar (i.e., with a single mating-type locus). Saponaria officinalis is a widespread long-lived perennial plant species with multiple flowering stems, which makes its anther-smut pathogen a good model for studying phylogeography and within-host multiple infections.Principal findingsHere, based on a generated genome sequence of M. saponariae we developed 6 multiplexes with a total of 22 polymorphic microsatellite markers using an inexpensive and efficient method. We scored these markers in fungal individuals collected from 97 populations across Europe, and found that the number of their alleles ranged from 2 to 11, and their expected heterozygosity from 0.01 to 0.58. Cross-species amplification was examined using nine other Microbotryum species parasitizing hosts belonging to Silene, Dianthus and Knautia genera. All loci were successfully amplified in at least two other Microbotryum species.SignificanceThese newly developed markers will provide insights into the population genetic structure and the occurrence of within-host multiple infections of M. saponariae. In addition, the draft genome of M. saponariae, as well as one of the described markers will be useful resources for studying the evolution of the breeding systems in the genus Microbotryum and the evolution of specialization onto different plant species.

Dataset Information

Distribution of the anther-smut pathogen Microbotryum on species of the Caryophyllaceae.

Publications

Distribution of the anther-smut pathogen Microbotryum on species of the Caryophyllaceae.

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