Rapid evolution of avirulence genes in rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae is one of the most devastating pathogens in rice. Avirulence genes in this fungus share a gene-for-gene relationship with the resistance genes in its host rice. Although numerous studies have shown that rice blast R-genes are extremely diverse and evolve rapidly in their host populations, little is known about the evolutionary patterns of the Avr-genes in the pathogens.

Results

Here, six well-characterized Avr-genes and seven randomly selected non-Avr control genes were used to investigate the genetic variations in 62 rice blast strains from different parts of China. Frequent presence/absence polymorphisms, high levels of nucleotide variation (~10-fold higher than non-Avr genes), high non-synonymous to synonymous substitution r

SUBMITTER: Huang J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4021558 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature