Comparative analysis of pathogenicity and phylogenetic relationship in Magnaporthe grisea species complex

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 8; no. 2; p. e57196
• Main Authors: Choi, Jaehyuk, Park, Sook-Young, Kim, Byung-Ryun, Roh, Jae-Hwan, Oh, In-Seok, Han, Seong-Sook, Lee, Yong-Hwan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 26.02.2013; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Agricultural biotechnology; Agriculture; Ascomycota; Base Sequence; Biology; Blotting, Southern; Calcium-binding protein; Calmodulin; Comparative analysis; Crop diseases; Crop science; Deoxyribonucleic acid; Digitaria; DNA; DNA fingerprinting; DNA fingerprints; DNA Primers; Fungi; Gene sequencing; Genes; Genetic fingerprinting; Genetics; Genomes; Grain cultivation; Grasses; Haplotypes; Infectivity; Laboratories; Magnaporthe - classification; Magnaporthe - pathogenicity; Magnaporthe grisea; Magnaporthe oryzae; Mating; Morphology; Nucleotide sequence; Oryza; Oryza - microbiology; Outbreaks; Pathogenesis; Pathogenicity; Pathogens; Phylogenetics; Phylogeny; Poaceae; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Rice; Rice blast; Rural development; Species
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0057196

Outbreaks of rice blast have been a threat to the global production of rice. Members of the Magnaporthe grisea species complex cause blast disease on a wide range of gramineous hosts, including cultivated rice and other grass species. Recently, based on phylogenetic analyses and mating tests, isolates from crabgrass were separated from the species complex and named M. grisea. Then other isolates from grasses including rice were named as M. oryzae. Here, we collected 103 isolates from 11 different species of grasses in Korea and analyzed their phylogenetic relationships and pathogenicity. Phylogenetic analyses of multilocus sequences and DNA fingerprinting revealed that the haplotypes of most isolates were associated with their hosts. However, six isolates had different haplotypes from the expectation, suggesting potential host shift in nature. Results of pathogenicity tests demonstrated that 42 isolates from crabgrass and 19 isolates from rice and other grasses showed cross-infectivity on rice and crabgrass, respectively. Interestingly, we also found that the isolates from rice had a distinct deletion in the calmodulin that can be used as a probe.