Finger millet blast caused by Magnaporthe grisea(anamorph: Pyricularia grisea) is a great threat to finger millet production worldwide. Genetic diversity and population structure of 72M. griseaisolates collected from finger millet (56), foxtail millet (6), pearl millet (7) and rice (3) frommajor crop growing areas inIndiawas studied using 24 SSR markers. None of the SSRs detected polymorphism in the M. grisea isolates from pearl millet. Seventeen SSR markers were polymorphicin the 65 non pearl millet isolates anddetected 105 alleles, of which one was rare, 83 common, 9 frequent and 12 most frequent. A model-based population structure analysis of the genomic data identified two distinct populations with varying levels of ancestral admixtures among the 65M. griseaisolates. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA)indicated that 52% of the total variation among the isolates used in this study was due to differences between the pathogen populations adapted to different hosts, 42% was due to differences in the isolates from the same host, and the remaining 6% due to heterozygosity within isolates. High genetic variability present in M. grisea isolates calls for the continuous monitoring of M. grisea populations anticipating blast resistance breakdown in finger millet cultivars grown in India.
Key words:Genetic diversity, Simple sequence repeats, Magnaporthe grisea, Eleusine coracana
Highlights: Seventeen of the 24 SSR markers were polymorphic and detected 105 alleles in the 65Magnaporthegriseaisolates. Cluster analysis of SSR data classified the isolates into three major groups that corresponded with the host specificity. A model-based population structure analysis identified two distinct populations with varying levels of ancestral admixtures.Kiran Babu et al., 2013 Physiological and molecular plant pathology 3
IntroductionFinger millet (Eleusine coracana L. Gaertn) is a widely grown grain cereal in the semi- grisea populations adapted to finger millet, foxtail millet, pearl millet and rice.
Material and Methods
Pathogen isolatesBlast infected (leaf, neck and finger) samples of finger millet, foxtail millet and rice were collected from Vizianagaram, Patancheru, and Nandyal in Andhra Pradesh, Mandya and Naganahalli in Karnataka, and Dholi in Bihar, India during 2008-10 rainy seasons (Table 1).In addition, seven M. grisea isolates from four major pearl millet growing states in IndiaRajasthan, Haryana, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh [25] were also included in this study (Table 1). Isolations of M. grisea were made from the blast-infected tissue on oatmeal agar medium (rolled oats 50 g, agar 15 g, distilled water 1 L) and incubated at 25±1°C for 15 days.After incubation, a dilute spore suspension (3×10 3 spores/ml) was prepared in sterile doubledistilled water and plated onto 4% water agar in Petri plates. Single germinating conidia were marked after 10-12 h of incubation under a microscope and transferred to test tubes containing oatmeal agar for further studies.
Isolation of genomic DNAKiran Babu et al., 2013...