Molecular studies of rust on European aspen suggest an autochthonous relationship shaped by genotype

Forests are at increasing risk from pathogen outbreak. Climate change for example enhance the risk of local disease outbreaks, and naturalization of exotic pathogens may follow human activities, warranting robust pest surveillance routines to support forest management. Melampsora pinitorqua (pine tw...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Frontiers in Plant Science
Main Authors: Siddique, Abu Bakar, Menke, Laura, Dinedurga, Melis, Albrectsen, Benedicte Riber
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Umeå universitet, Institutionen för fysiologisk botanik 2023
Subjects:
biomonitoring
condensed tannins
genotype effect
Melampsora
pathogen
PCR
Populus tremula
surveillance
Botany
Botanik
Forest Science
Skogsvetenskap
Northern Sweden
Online Access:http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-205801
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2023.1111001
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Summary:Forests are at increasing risk from pathogen outbreak. Climate change for example enhance the risk of local disease outbreaks, and naturalization of exotic pathogens may follow human activities, warranting robust pest surveillance routines to support forest management. Melampsora pinitorqua (pine twisting rust) is of concern in Swedish forestry, and here we evaluate the use of visible rust scores (VRS) on its obligate summer host, European aspen (Populus tremula) as a tool for quantification of the pathogen. With use of species-specific primers, we could detect the native rust, but we failed to detect two exotic rusts (M. medusae and M. larici-populina). We found that aspen genotype determined the presence of fungal genetic markers (amplifying the ITS2 region of the fungal rDNA sequence) as well as DNA sequences specific to M. pinitorqua. We correlated VRS with the amount of fungal DNA in the same leaf, and we related the findings to aspen genotype-specific parameters such as the ability to synthesize and store leaf condensed tannins (CT). At the genotype level both positive and negative relationships were observed between CTs, fungal markers, and rust infestations. However, at the population level, foliar CT concentrations correlated negatively with general fungal- and rust-specific marker abundances. Our results, therefore, do not support the use of VRS to assess Melampsora infestation in Aspen. They do, however, suggest that the relationship between European aspen and rust infestation may be characterized as autochthonous in northern Sweden.

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