Thousands ways to kill: transcriptional variation and distinct infection programs among individuals of the wheat pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici
E. STUKENBROCK (1), J. Haueisen (1), J. Grandaubert (1) (1) Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, Germany

Molecular plant-pathogen interactions drive an antagonistic co-evolution between host and pathogen. We use the fungal wheat pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici to study the underlying genetics of host specialization and rapid adaptive evolution. So far the underlying genetics of virulence in Z. tritici is not known. We applied population genomic analyses to investigate mechanisms of rapid adaptive evolution in the pathogen. A high mutation rate affects both genome structure and sequence composition. Furthermore, high recombination rates and intra-genic recombination hot spots contribute to extremely high levels of genetic diversity and rapid gene evolution in Z. tritici. To assess how genetic variation translates into phenotypic variation, we performed detailed microscopy analyses of three Z. tritici isolates during host infection. We combined microscopy images with transcriptome sequencing to capture and compare the individual in-planta development stages of the fungus. Our analyses reveal dramatic differences in patterns and timing of host colonization as well as transcriptional programs of the three Z. tritici isolates. In fact up to 20% of Z. tritici genes are differentially transcribed in the three isolates during early host colonization, necrotrophic growth and asexual spore formation. Together these results suggest that within species genetic and phenotypic variation should be considered in studies of Z. tritici biology and in the development of management strategies.

Abstract Number: P7-3
Session Type: Plenary