Seasonal Changes Drive Short-Term Selection for Fitness Traits in the Wheat Pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici.

ABSTRACT: In a cross-infection experiment, we investigated how seasonal changes can affect adaptation patterns in a Zymoseptoria tritici population. The fitness of isolates sampled on wheat leaves at the beginning and at the end of a field epidemic was assessed under environmental conditions (temperature and host stage) to which the local pathogen population was successively exposed. Isolates of the final population were more aggressive, and showed greater sporulation intensity under winter conditions and a shorter latency period (earlier sporulation) under spring conditions, than isolates of the initial population. These differences, complemented by lower between-genotype variability in the final population, exhibited an adaptation pattern with three striking features: (i) the pathogen responded sy

SUBMITTER: Suffert F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4542257 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature