Increased susceptibility to fungal disease accompanies adaptation to drought in Brassica rapa.

ABSTRACT: Recent studies have demonstrated adaptive evolutionary responses to climate change, but little is known about how these responses may influence ecological interactions with other organisms, including natural enemies. We used a resurrection experiment in the greenhouse to examine the effect of evolutionary responses to drought on the susceptibility of Brassica rapa plants to a fungal pathogen, Alternaria brassicae. In agreement with previous studies in this population, we found an evolutionary shift to earlier flowering postdrought, which was previously shown to be adaptive. Here, we report the novel finding that postdrought descendant plants were also more susceptible to disease, indicating a rapid evolutionary shift to increased susceptibility. This was accompanied by an evolutionary shif

SUBMITTER: O'Hara NB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4715916 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature