The rise of Pyricularia tritici sp. Nov. as the wheat blast pathogen in Brazil: sympatric speciation inferred from multilocus gene phylogeny, pathogenicity spectra and avirulence genes evolution

• Grant number: 14/25904-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: March 01, 2015
• End date: February 28, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Plant Health
• Agreement: Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)
• Principal Investigator: Paulo Cezar Ceresini
• Grantee: Vanina Lilián Castroagudin
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia (FEIS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Ilha Solteira. Ilha Solteira , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The fungus Pyricularia oryzae has a worldwide distribution as a rice pathogen but in the last century emerged as an important wheat pathogen in southern Brazil and has spread to other countries in South America. Our main goal is to describe the emergence of a new Pyricularia species comprised of the wheat-adapted population from Brazil. We hypothesize that the Oryza and the Triticum subgroups of Pyricularia oryzae are, in fact, distinct species and should be given different names. Also, we propose that the wheat-infecting populations of P. oryzae had a "de novo" origin from endemic populations of the pathogen that infect other native Poaceae species (invasive to wheat areas) in Brazil, as a result of host shifts that led to sympatric speciation. To test these hypotheses, we will conduct phylogenetic analysis on ten housekeeping loci from sympatric populations of P. oryzae adapted to rice, wheat and other poaceous hosts from Brazil using Bayesian and coalescent-based approaches. In the second part of the research, we aim to elucidate the various steps towards the process of sympatric speciation. We intend to examine both the pathogenicity spectra and the evolution of eleven avirulence (Avr) genes from local P. oryzae populations from distinct hosts. The acceptance of our hypothesis of sympatric speciation will eventually lead to the description of a new Pyricularia species named Pyricularia tritici sp. nov. to accommodate the Pyricularia populations pathogenic on wheat. (AU)

Scientific publications

(6)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

CERESINI, PAULO CEZAR; CASTROAGUDIN, VANINA LILIAN; RODRIGUES, FABRICIO AVILA; RIOS, JONAS ALBERTO; AUCIQUE-PEREZ, CARLOS EDUARDO; MOREIRA, SILVINO INTRA; CROLL, DANIEL; ALVES, EDUARDO; DE CARVALHO, GISELLE; NUNES MACIEL, JOAO LEODATO; et al. Wheat blast: from its origins in South America to its emergence as a global threat. MOLECULAR PLANT PATHOLOGY, v. 20, n. 2, p. 155-172, FEB 2019. (13/10655-4, 15/10453-8, 14/25904-2, 17/50456-1)

JULIANA TEODORA DE ASSIS REGES; MATHEUS MEREB NEGRISOLI; ADRIANO FRANCIS DORIGAN; VANINA LILIÁN CASTROAGUDÍN; JOÃO LEODATO NUNES MACIEL; PAULO CEZAR CERESINI. Pyricularia pennisetigena e P. zingibericola de gramíneas invasoras infectam braquiária, cevada e trigo. Pesqui. Agropecu. Trop., v. 46, n. 2, p. 206-214, 2016-06-00. (14/25904-2, 15/10453-8, 13/10655-4)

ISLAM, M. TOFAZZAL; CROLL, DANIEL; GLADIEUX, PIERRE; SOANES, DARREN M.; PERSOONS, ANTOINE; BHATTACHARJEE, PALLAB; HOSSAIN, MD. SHAID; GUPTA, DIPALI RANI; RAHMAN, MD. MAHBUBUR; MAHBOOB, M. GOLAM; et al. Emergence of wheat blast in Bangladesh was caused by a South American lineage of Magnaporthe oryzae. BMC Biology, v. 14, OCT 3 2016. (13/10655-4, 15/10453-8, 14/25904-2)

DOS SANTOS PEREIRA, DANILO A.; CERESINI, PAULO C.; CASTROAGUDIN, VANINA L.; RAMOS-MOLINA, LINA M.; CHAVARRO-MESA, EDISSON; NEGRISOLI, MATHEUS MEREB; CAMPOS, SAMARA NUNES; PEGOLO, MAURO E. S.; TAKADA, HELIO MINORU. Population Genetic Structure of Rhizoctonia oryzae-sativae from Rice in Latin America and Its Adaptive Potential to Emerge as a Pathogen on Urochloa Pastures. PHYTOPATHOLOGY, v. 107, n. 1, p. 121-131, JAN 2017. (13/11944-0, 14/25904-2, 11/23050-8, 11/50150-3)

RILI CUMAGUN, CHRISTIAN JOSEPH; MCDONALD, BRUCE ALAN; ARAKAWA, MASAO; CASTROAGUDIN, VANINA LILIAN; SEBBENN, ALEXANDRE MAGNO; CERESINI, PAULO CEZAR. Population genetic structure of the sheath blight pathogen Rhizoctonia solani AG-1 IA from rice fields in China, Japan and the Philippines. Acta Scientiarum. Agronomy, v. 42, 2020. (14/25904-2)

CASTROAGUDIN, V. L.; MOREIRA, S. I.; PEREIRA, D. A. S.; MOREIRA, S. S.; BRUNNER, P. C.; MACIEL, J. L. N.; CROUS, P. W.; MCDONALD, B. A.; ALVES, E.; CERESINI, P. C.. Pyricularia graminis-tritici, a new Pyricularia species causing wheat blast. PERSOONIA, v. 37, p. 199-216, DEC 2016. (13/10655-4, 14/25904-2, 15/10453-8)