The ascomycete Verticillium longisporum is a hybrid and a plant pathogen with an expanded host range.

ABSTRACT: Hybridization plays a central role in plant evolution, but its overall importance in fungi is unknown. New plant pathogens are thought to arise by hybridization between formerly separated fungal species. Evolution of hybrid plant pathogens from non-pathogenic ancestors in the fungal-like protist Phytophthora has been demonstrated, but in fungi, the most important group of plant pathogens, there are few well-characterized examples of hybrids. We focused our attention on the hybrid and plant pathogen Verticillium longisporum, the causal agent of the Verticillium wilt disease in crucifer crops. In order to address questions related to the evolutionary origin of V. longisporum, we used phylogenetic analyses of seven nuclear loci and a dataset of 203 isolates of V. longisporum, V. dahliae and r

SUBMITTER: Inderbitzin P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3063834 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature