Variation and correlations between sexual, asexual and natural enemy resistance life-history traits in a natural plant pathogen population



Numminen, Elina, Vaumourin, Elise, Parratt, Steven R, Poulin, Lucie and Laine, Anna-Liisa
(2019) Variation and correlations between sexual, asexual and natural enemy resistance life-history traits in a natural plant pathogen population. BMC EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, 19 (1). 142-.

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Abstract

<h4>Background</h4>Understanding the mechanisms by which diversity is maintained in pathogen populations is critical for epidemiological predictions. Life-history trade-offs have been proposed as a hypothesis for explaining long-term maintenance of variation in pathogen populations, yet the empirical evidence supporting trade-offs has remained mixed. This is in part due to the challenges of documenting successive pathogen life-history stages in many pathosystems. Moreover, little is understood of the role of natural enemies of pathogens on their life-history evolution.<h4>Results</h4>We characterize life-history-trait variation and possible trade-offs in fungal pathogen Podosphaera plantaginis infecting the host plant Plantago lanceolata. We measured the timing of both asexual and sexual stages, as well as resistance to a hyperparasite of seven pathogen strains that vary in their prevalence in nature. We find significant variation among the strains in their life-history traits that constitute the infection cycle, but no evidence for trade-offs among pathogen development stages, apart from fast pathogen growth coninciding with fast hyperparasite growth. Also, the seemingly least fit pathogen strain was the most prevalent in the nature.<h4>Conclusions</h4>We conclude that in the nature environmental variation, and interactions with the antagonists of pathogens themselves may maintain variation in pathogen populations.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Ampelomyces spp, Diversity, Epidemiology, Fitness, Host-pathogen interaction, Plantago lanceolata, Podosphaera plantaginis
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 14 Aug 2019 13:24
Last Modified: 19 Jan 2023 00:30
DOI: 10.1186/s12862-019-1468-2
Open Access URL: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-019-1468-2
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URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3051735