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Environmentally Induced Heritable Changes in Flax
Published on: January 26, 2011
Clinal resistance structure and pathogen local adaptation in a serpentine flax-flax rust interaction
1Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, A316 Earth and Marine Sciences Bldg., Santa Cruz, California 95064, USA. yurispringer@gmail.com
Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution
|August 9, 2007
Summary
California dwarf flax exhibits a latitudinal cline in disease resistance, mirroring rust infection prevalence. This suggests pathogen selection shapes host resistance across large geographic scales.
Area of Science:
- Plant pathology and evolutionary biology
- Ecology and population genetics
Background:
- Disease resistance in hosts is shaped by pathogen-driven selection.
- Understanding resistance structure across a host's range is crucial for evolutionary insights.
- Few studies link wild plant-pathogen resistance structure with natural disease levels.
Purpose of the Study:
- To characterize the genetic resistance structure of California dwarf flax (Hesperolinon californicum) populations.
- To investigate the relationship between resistance structure and disease prevalence in natural settings.
- To test for local adaptation in the rust fungus (Melampsora lini).
Main Methods:
- Greenhouse cross-inoculation experiments were used to assess genetic resistance.
- 16 populations of Hesperolinon californicum were tested against Melampsora lini.
- Field surveys documented natural infection prevalence.
Main Results:
- A latitudinal cline in genetic resistance structure was identified across the host's biogeographic range.
- This resistance cline closely mirrored a cline in rust infection prevalence observed in field surveys.
- Evidence for local adaptation in the fungus was found, with higher infection in sympatric pairings.
Conclusions:
- Antagonistic selection pressure from pathogens can create clinal patterns of host resistance.
- These patterns are observable across broad biogeographic scales.
- Disease prevalence in wild populations is strongly linked to the spatial distribution of host resistance genes.
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