Characteristics of the virulence of the wheat stem rust pathogen in the conditions of the Saratov region

Stem rust (pathogen - biotrophic fungus Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici Erikss. & Henning) – a particularly deleterious disease of bread wheat. In this article the results of the analysis of the structure of samples of Saratov populations of wheat stem rust pathogen by signs of virulence during 2016-2020 were presented. A total of 60 pathogen isolates were characterized for virulence. In general, Saratov P. graminis populations were characterized as highly virulent during the study period. The significant variation in the virulence frequencies of P. graminis was observed in lines with the genes Sr9b, Sr9g, Sr12, Sr21, Sr25, Sr27, Sr30, Sr32, Sr33, Sr7a+12, Sr17+13. The other Sr lines used in the analysis, the virulence rates remained consistently high in all the years of research. Genes and combinations of genes: SrSatu, Sr24, Sr25+9g, Sr25+31, Sr25+38 were shown to be effective to P. graminis populations in 2016-2020.

Analysis of Pseudocercospora fijiensis genes upregulated during early interaction with Musa acuminata (var. Dwarf Cavendish)

Pseudocercospora fijiensis is a filamentous, hemi[B1] biotrophic fungus whose infection process in banana comprises biotrophic and necrotrophic phases; the biotrophic phase is the longer and less damaging of the two but is nonetheless a crucial stage of fungal establishment in the host. To discover the genes essential in this stage, we conducted an interaction experiment to isolate the transcriptome of the P. fijiensis and Musa acuminata interaction during the first 9 days of infection. Of more than 7000 P. fijiensis genes identified, the fifteen most highly expressed genes (RPKM>500) were analyzed. Specific non-canonical effector candidates were identified following in silico characterization which may be fundamental to pathogenicity. This report reveals essential details of a poorly-elucidated stage of the P. fijiensis-Musa sp. pathosystem.

Whole Genome Sequence Resource of the Asian Pear Scab Pathogen Venturia nashicola

Venturia nashicola, the cause of scab disease of Asian pears, is a host-specific, biotrophic fungus. It is restricted to Asia and is regarded as a quarantine threat outside this region. European pear displays nonhost resistance (NHR) to V. nashicola and Asian pears are nonhosts of V. pyrina (the cause of European pear scab disease). The host specificity of these two fungi is likely governed by differences in their effector arsenals, with a subset hypothesized to activate NHR. The Pyrus-Venturia pathosystem provides an opportunity to dissect the underlying genetics of nonhost interactions in this potentially more durable form of resistance. The V. nashicola genome will enable comparisons to other Venturia spp. genomes to identify effectors that potentially activate NHR in the pear scab pathosystem.