Investigating In Vitro Mating Preference Between or Within the Two Forms of Pyrenophora teres and Its Hybrids

Net blotch diseases result in significant yield losses to barley industries worldwide. They occur as net-form and spot-form net blotch caused by Pyrenophora teres f. teres and P. teres f. maculata, respectively. Hybridization between the forms was proposed to be rare, but recent identifications of field hybrids has renewed interest in the frequency and mechanisms underlying hybridization. This study investigates the mating preference of P. teres f. teres, P. teres f. maculata, and laboratory-produced hybrids in vitro, using 24 different isolates and four different experimental setups. Two crosses in our study produced ascospores during two intervals separated by a 32- to 35-day period of no ascospore production. For these crosses, P. teres f. teres isolates mated with isolates of the same form during the early ascospore production interval, and produced hybrids during the later interval. P. teres f. maculata isolates did not mate with isolates of the same form, but instead hybridized with P. teres f. teres isolates. Analyses based on DArTseq markers confirmed that laboratory-produced hybrids, when given the choice to mate with both P. teres f. teres and P. teres f. maculata, mated with P. teres f. teres isolates. These results unravel a novel concept that P. teres f. teres seems to have a greater reproduction vigor than P. teres f. maculata, which could lead to increased prevalence of hybrid incidences in vivo.