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Research article2023Peer reviewedOpen access

Genomic analysis, trajectory tracking, and field surveys reveal sources and long-distance dispersal routes of wheat stripe rust pathogen in China

Li, Yuxiang; Dai, Jichen; Zhang, Taixue; Wang, Baotong; Zhang, Siyue; Wang, Conghao; Zhang, Jiguang; Yao, Qiang; Li, Mingju; Li, Chengyun; Peng, Yuelin; Cao, Shiqin; Zhan, Gangming; Tao, Fei; Gao, Haifeng; Huang, Weili; Feng, Xiaojun; Bai, Yingwen; Qucuo, Zhuoma; Shang, Hongsheng;
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Abstract

Identifying sources of phytopathogen inoculum and determining their contributions to disease outbreaks are essential for predicting disease development and establishing control strategies. Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst), the causal agent of wheat stripe rust, is an airborne fungal pathogen with rapid virulence variation that threatens wheat production through its long-distance migration. Because of wide variation in geographic features, climatic conditions, and wheat production systems, Pst sources and related dispersal routes in China are largely unclear. In the present study, we performed genomic analyses of 154 Pst isolates from all major wheat-growing regions in China to determine Pst population structure and diversity. Through trajectory tracking, historical migration studies, genetic introgression analyses, and field surveys, we investigated Pst sources and their contributions to wheat stripe rust epidemics. We identified Longnan, the Himalayan region, and the Guizhou Plateau, which contain the highest population genetic diversities, as the Pst sources in China. Pst from Longnan disseminates mainly to eastern Liupan Mountain, the Sichuan Basin, and eastern Qinghai; that from the Himalayan region spreads mainly to the Sichuan Basin and eastern Qinghai; and that from the Guizhou Plateau migrates mainly to the Sichuan Basin and the Cen-tral Plain. These findings improve our current understanding of wheat stripe rust epidemics in China and emphasize the need for managing stripe rust on a national scale.

Keywords

Puccinia striiformis f; sp; tritici; stripe rust; disease epidemics; population genetics; genome sequencing

Published in

Plant Communications
2023, Volume: 4, number: 4, article number: 100563
Publisher: ELSEVIER

    Associated SLU-program

    SLU Plant Protection Network

    UKÄ Subject classification

    Agricultural Science

    Publication identifier

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xplc.2023.100563

    Permanent link to this page (URI)

    https://res.slu.se/id/publ/123921