Spatial pattern of genetic diversity in field populations of Fusarium incarnatum‐equiseti species complex

Abstract

Fusarium is associated with a number of wilt, blight, scab, and rot diseases in a range of economically important staple food crops worldwide. An assessment of the genetic structure and population stratification of Fusarium incarnatum‐equiseti species complex (FIESC) pathogen populations is important to understand the evolutionary potential of such populations in adapting to environmental change. Based on intersimple sequence repeat polymerase chain reaction (ISSR‐PCR), it was found that the pathogen population was structured into three genetic clusters for which genetic differentiation was higher within than among populations. There was high intrapopulation genetic diversity for population 1 (94.63%) which consisted largely of isolates collected from North Trinidad. Populations 2 and 3 had a low level of admixture among the populations based on overall population differentiation. Population 1 accounted for the highest amount of genetic variation (95.82%) followed by populations 2 and 3. Population stratification was reflected in the dendrogram topology, which consisted of three main genetic clusters and which coincided with the outcome of Bayesian and PCoA analyses. The populations were isolated by distance, and Voronoi tessellations indicated physical or structural barriers to gene flow which contributed to restricted admixture between two of three populations. These findings suggest a high evolutionary potential for this FIESC pathogen population, the implications of which directly affect disease management strategies.

Genetic Diversity and Population Structure of Head Blight Disease Causing Fungus Fusarium graminearum in Northern Wheat Belt of India

“…Moreover, the effectiveness of resistant varieties and implementation of different methods singly or in an integrated manner for the control of Fusarium spp. still exist as a daunting task because of the complex nature of FG and fungicide-resistant development in natural FG populations [ 21 ]. Therefore, an appraisal of genetic diversity and population structure of FG becomes mandatory to understand its evolutionary relationships with respect to environmental change, selection pressures, and other forces (e.g., mutation, genetic drift, gene flow, etc.)…”