Interactions of Microbotryum violaceum (ustilago violacea) with its host plant Silene alba

Ruddat, Manfred; Kokontis, John M.; Birch, L.; Garber, E. D.; Chiang, Kwen‐Sheng; Campanella, James J.; Dai, Hwa

doi:10.1016/0168-9452(91)90280-l

Cited by 44 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Dispersal of the fungus occurs via teliospores that form in the anthers of infected plants and are spread by pollinators. Interestingly, in female plants of dioecious Silene, the smut can cause masculinisation of the phenotype and the formation of anther-like structures (Ruddat et al., 1991). Teliospores undergo meiosis on the host plant, and the resulting haploid cells bud off sporidia that eventually conjugate to form infectious dikaryons.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

DNA polymorphism in recombining and non-recombing mating-type-specific loci of the smut fungus Microbotryum

Votintseva

Filatov

2010

Heredity

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The population-genetic processes leading to the genetic degeneration of non-recombining regions have mainly been studied in animal and plant sex chromosomes. Here, we report population genetic analysis of the processes in the non-recombining mating-type-specific regions of the smut fungus Microbotryum violaceum. M. violaceum has A1 and A2 mating types, determined by mating-type-specific 'sex chromosomes' that contain 1-2 Mb long non-recombining regions. If genetic degeneration were occurring, then one would expect reduced DNA polymorphism in the non-recombining regions of this fungus. The analysis of DNA diversity among 19 M. violaceum strains, collected across Europe from Silene latifolia flowers, revealed that (i) DNA polymorphism is relatively low in all 20 studied loci (pB0.15%), (ii) it is not significantly different between the two mating-type-specific chromosomes nor between the non-recombining and recombining regions, (iii) there is substantial population structure in M. violaceum populations, which resembles that of its host species, S. latifolia, and (iv) there is significant linkage disequilibrium, suggesting that widespread selfing in this species results in a reduction of the effective recombination rate across the genome. We hypothesise that selfing-related reduction of recombination across the M. violaceum genome negates the difference in the level of DNA polymorphism between the recombining and non-recombining regions, and may possibly lead to similar levels of genetic degeneration in the mating-type-specific regions of the non-recombining 'sex chromosomes' and elsewhere in the genome.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

DNA polymorphism in recombining and non-recombing mating-type-specific loci of the smut fungus Microbotryum

Votintseva

Filatov

2010

Heredity

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“…The healthy host plants display strong sexual dimorphism in vegetative (Zluvova et al, 2010) and reproductive traits (Delph et al, 2010). When infected, the fungus replaces the pollen in a male plant; in contrast, the gynoecium is suppressed in infected female flowers, and pseudo-anthers develop to house the teliospores, much like in the male plant (Ruddat et al, 1991;Uchida et al, 2005;Uchida et al, 2003). Infection of females may thus produce at least a partial sex reversal (Ruddat et al, 1991;Uchida et al, 2005;Uchida et al, 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…When infected, the fungus replaces the pollen in a male plant; in contrast, the gynoecium is suppressed in infected female flowers, and pseudo-anthers develop to house the teliospores, much like in the male plant (Ruddat et al, 1991;Uchida et al, 2005;Uchida et al, 2003). Infection of females may thus produce at least a partial sex reversal (Ruddat et al, 1991;Uchida et al, 2005;Uchida et al, 2003). The infection renders both the male and female plants sterile, in the former due to the lack of pollen, while in the latter the rudimentary ovary that can no longer set seeds.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It was determined that gynodioecy and hermaphroditism are ancestral to the Silene genus (Marais et al, 2011) and that a Y chromosome mutation can reverse the dioecy (Miller & Kesseli, 2011). While it is known that steroids do not affect sex determination (Ruddat et al, 1991), it is still unclear what does.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Since the teliospores occupy the space of the pollen in the anthers, infection in the female then seems futile, as there is no stamen. To overcome that, the fungus alters the female reproductive organs by suppressing the gynoecium and makes the supposedly rudimentary stamen continue its development into anthers that can house the teliospores, effecting a sex change in the female host (Ruddat et al, 1991;Uchida et al, 2005;Uchida et al, 2003).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Genomic and transcriptomic analyses of Microbotryum lychnidis-dioicae provide insights into the biology of a fascinating fungal phytopathogen.

Toh¹

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We received a lot of help in the projects, many through these personal favors. We thank Dr. Michael E. Hood from Amherst College for providing us with Silene latifolia seeds and the starter fungal strains. We acknowledge the Broad Institute Sequencing Platform for generating all DNA and RNA sequences described here, and Sinéad Chapman for coordinating the sequencing. We thank Dr. Mark Lawrence from Mississippi State University, for sharing the Rhodotorula glutinis ATCC 204091 genome and annotation methods prior to publication. We would also like to thank Vincent

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The effects of the floral infection by a bacterial pathogen in a dioecious plant, Mallotus japonicus (Euphorbiaceae)

2022

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Among all the different organs of a plant, flowers might have one of the most dynamic microbial communities, since many microbes are transmitted during flowering by insects and pollen. However, little is known about how these microbes affect floral characteristics and plant reproduction. Among the microbes transmitted to flowers, pathogens may have highly negative effects on plants' fitness. In this study, we investigated whether a bacterial pathogen, Erwinia mallotivora, occurs on flowers of the host plant Mallotus japonicus, and whether the transmission of the pathogen to flowers can result in systemic infection and/or reduction of fruit production. The pathogen has been reported to infect through leaves, while its ecology on flowers is unknown. We first confirmed the presence of the pathogen on flowers, indicating possible transmission by visitors or pollen. Then, we showed that the bacteria can infect the plant through flowers by inoculating the pathogen to both male and female flowers. Interestingly, the symptoms on leaves appeared earlier on the female plants than on the males. Besides, the inoculation significantly decreased fruit set of the female plants. Our results suggest a higher cost of infection in a female than in a male once the pathogen infected flowers. Although the effects of pathogen infection to flowers have rarely investigated in wild plants, it would be an interesting topic for future study if such sexual differences in the infection cost can cause sexual conflict and intraspecific adaptation load.

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Interactions of Microbotryum violaceum (ustilago violacea) with its host plant Silene alba

Cited by 44 publications

References 19 publications

DNA polymorphism in recombining and non-recombing mating-type-specific loci of the smut fungus Microbotryum

DNA polymorphism in recombining and non-recombing mating-type-specific loci of the smut fungus Microbotryum

Genomic and transcriptomic analyses of Microbotryum lychnidis-dioicae provide insights into the biology of a fascinating fungal phytopathogen.

The effects of the floral infection by a bacterial pathogen in a dioecious plant, Mallotus japonicus (Euphorbiaceae)

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