Leptosphaeria maculans, the Causal Agent of Blackleg Disease of Brassicas

Howlett, Barbara J.; Idnurm, Alexander; Pedras, M. Soledade C.

doi:10.1006/fgbi.2001.1274

Cited by 161 publications

(129 citation statements)

References 96 publications

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“…Strategies for breeding cultivars with improved resistance to pathogens will need to include trials in countries which today have the climate that the UK is predicted to have in the future. Since some temperature-dependent genes for resistance to pathogens are ineffective at increased temperatures (Huang et al 2006) and epidemics of UK diseases such as phoma stem canker are more severe in the Mediterranean climates of France and Australia (Howlett et al 2001), such trials will help to identify resistance that can operate effectively under the predicted climates.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

North–South divide: contrasting impacts of climate change on crop yields in Scotland and England

Butterworth

Semenov

Barnes

et al. 2009

J. R. Soc. Interface.

105

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Effects of climate change on productivity of agricultural crops in relation to diseases that attack them are difficult to predict because they are complex and nonlinear. To investigate these crop-disease-climate interactions, UKCIP02 scenarios predicting UK temperature and rainfall under high-and low-CO 2 emission scenarios for the 2020s and 2050s were combined with a crop-simulation model predicting yield of fungicide-treated winter oilseed rape and with a weather-based regression model predicting severity of phoma stem canker epidemics. The combination of climate scenarios and crop model predicted that climate change will increase yield of fungicide-treated oilseed rape crops in Scotland by up to 0.5 t ha 21 (15%). In contrast, in southern England the combination of climate scenarios, crop, disease and yield loss models predicted that climate change will increase yield losses from phoma stem canker epidemics to up to 50 per cent (1.5 t ha 21) and greatly decrease yield of untreated winter oilseed rape. The size of losses is predicted to be greater for winter oilseed rape cultivars that are susceptible than for those that are resistant to the phoma stem canker pathogen Leptosphaeria maculans. Such predictions illustrate the unexpected, contrasting impacts of aspects of climate change on crop-disease interactions in agricultural systems in different regions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

North–South divide: contrasting impacts of climate change on crop yields in Scotland and England

Butterworth

Semenov

Barnes

et al. 2009

J. R. Soc. Interface.

105

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“…Recently, the photosensory function was demonstrated for the rhodopsins of the alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (7), where rhodopsin constitutes a light-sensitive domain in a larger membrane protein (7,8). In this study, we characterize a very different microbial rhodopsin found in the fungal agent of blackleg in canola, Leptosphaeria maculans (9,10). We demonstrate that Leptosphaeria rhodopsin (LR) represents a proven case of a proton-pumping retinal protein from a eukaryotic organism.…”

mentioning

confidence: 80%

Leptosphaeria rhodopsin: Bacteriorhodopsin-like proton pump from a eukaryote

Waschuk

Bezerra

Shi

et al. 2005

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

218

183

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Bacteriorhodopsin-like proteins provide archaea and eubacteria with a unique bioenergetic pathway comprising light-driven transmembrane proton translocation by a single retinal-binding protein.Recently, homologous proteins were found to perform photosensory functions in lower eukaryotes, but no active ion transport by eukaryotic rhodopsins was detected. By demonstrating lightdriven proton pumping in a fungal rhodopsin from Leptosphaeria maculans, we present a case of a retinal-based proton transporter from a eukaryote. This result implies that in addition to oxidative phosphorylation and chlorophyll photosynthesis, some lower eukaryotes may have retained the archaeal route of building an electrochemical transmembrane gradient of protons.proton transport ͉ sensory rhodopsins

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“…In Australia, the most economically damaging pathogen of canola cultivars, as well as other Brassica species, is Leptosphaeria maculans (Howlett et al, 2001). It causes significant losses world-wide, particularly in Europe, Australia and North America (Fitt et al, 2006).…”

Section: Blackleg Diseasementioning

confidence: 99%

“…maculans fungal infection, particularly on cabbages (B. oleracea), has been on record since 1791 (Hammond and Lewis, 1987;Howlett et al, 2001). The fungus became a concern to canola crops only in the mid-20th century when B. napus became commercially important to many parts of the world.…”

Section: Blackleg Diseasementioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the structure and variation within the genome of the pathogenic ascomycete fungus Leptosphaeria maculans

Zander¹

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The ascomycete fungus Leptosphaeria maculans is a major pathogen of Brassica species, particularly canola (Brassica napus; rapeseed; oil-seed rape), and the primary cause of crop losses of canola in Australia, causing blackleg disease. L. maculans, a filamentous ascomycete, is the causal agent of phoma stem canker, commonly referred to as blackleg.In late stages of infection, it spreads through the stem vasculature causing lesions, leading to poor growth, lodging and eventually plant death. This fungus is found in canola-growing regions worldwide such as Australia, Canada and Europe. Increased production of canola in these regions has led to a rise in the severity of the disease. In Australia alone, L. maculans infection is responsible for an estimated Australian $100 million in crop losses each year, with average losses ranging from 15-48 % and significant efforts are underway to improve resistance to this disease.Understanding the characteristics of L. maculans is vital for developing an effective and sustainable approach to the management of blackleg disease on Brassica species. The completion of the L. maculans genome sequence was a significant development in the study of this fungal pathogen and provides a reference genome to which molecular markers can be physically mapped. This has been highly useful in other plant pathogens with sequenced genomes, such as the wheat pathogen Parastagonospora nodorum and the cereal pathogen Fusarium graminearum. Importantly, a reference genome also allows mapping of whole genome re-sequencing data, which is becoming a high-throughput, costeffective method to study genome-wide diversity, particularly for the relatively small, lower complexity genomes of many fungal species. By re-sequencing the genome of different L. maculans isolates, variations in genome sequence and structure can be elucidated.Advances in genome sequencing technologies have revolutionised plant and fungal genomics. They have made genome sequencing, re-sequencing and Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) discovery highly accessible, high-throughput and cost-effective. The process of whole genome re-sequencing involves aligning millions of short sequence reads to a reference genome sequence. Once this has been achieved, it is possible to identify genetic variation between individuals, which can be linked to variation in phenotype to provide molecular genetic markers and insights into gene function.Sequence variation can have a major impact on how an organism develops and responds to the environment. III | P a g eThis thesis describes the implementation of several approaches to elucidating the genome structure and variation of a number of L. maculans isolates, including SNPs and presence/absence variations (PAVs).Initially, the re-sequencing of two L. maculans isolates for the identification of 21,814 SNPs was performed. I demonstrated the application of a novel SNP calling method, SGSautoSNP and its robustness and sensitivity in identifying polymorphisms in L.maculans. I described the use of these S...

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Leptosphaeria maculans, the Causal Agent of Blackleg Disease of Brassicas

Cited by 161 publications

References 96 publications

North–South divide: contrasting impacts of climate change on crop yields in Scotland and England

North–South divide: contrasting impacts of climate change on crop yields in Scotland and England

Leptosphaeria rhodopsin: Bacteriorhodopsin-like proton pump from a eukaryote

Understanding the structure and variation within the genome of the pathogenic ascomycete fungus Leptosphaeria maculans

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