Global genomic analyses of wheat powdery mildew reveal association of pathogen spread with historical human migration and trade

Abstract

The fungus Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici causes wheat powdery mildew disease. Here, Sotiropoulos et al. analyze a global sample of 172 mildew genomes, providing evidence that humans drove global spread of the pathogen throughout history and that mildew rapidly evolved through hybridization with local fungal strains.The fungus Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici causes wheat powdery mildew disease. Here, we study its spread and evolution by analyzing a global sample of 172 mildew genomes. Our analyses show that B.g. tritici emerged in the Fertile Crescent during wheat domestication. After it spread throughout Eurasia, colonization brought it to America, where it hybridized with unknown grass mildew species. Recent trade brought USA strains to Japan, and European strains to China. In both places, they hybridized with local ancestral strains. Thus, although mildew spreads by wind regionally, our results indicate that humans drove its global spread throughout history and that mildew rapidly evolved through hybridization.

Published in

Nature Communications
2022, volume: 13, number: 1, article number: 4315
Publisher: NATURE PORTFOLIO

SLU Authors

• Bourras, Salim

  • Department of Forest Mycology and Plant Pathology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • University of Zürich

UKÄ Subject classification

Microbiology
Agricultural Science

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-31975-0

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/118717