Epidemiological effect of gene deployment strategies on bacterial blight of rice

International Plant Pathology: Past and Future Contributions to Global Food Security

The challenge of feeding the current and future world population is widely recognized, and the management of plant diseases has an important role in overcoming this. This paper explores the ways in which international plant pathology has contributed and continues to support efforts to secure adequate, safe and culturally appropriate nourishment and livelihoods for present and future generations. For the purposes of this paper, "international plant pathology" refers to the work that plant pathologists do when they work across international borders, with a focus on enhancing food security in tropical regions. Significant efforts involve public and philanthropic resources from the global North for addressing plant disease concerns in the global South, where food security is a legitimate and pressing concern. International disease management efforts are also aimed at protecting domestic food security, for example when pathogens of major staples migrate across national borders. In addition, some important crops are largely produced in tropical countries and consumed globally, including in industrialized countries; the diseases of these crops are of international interest, and they are largely managed by the private sector. Finally, host-microbe interactions are fascinating biological systems, and basic research on plant diseases of international relevance has often yielded insights and technologies with both scientific and practical implications.

Pyramiding for Resistance Durability: Theory and Practice

Durable disease resistance is a key component of global food security, and combining resistance genes into "pyramids" is an important way to increase durability of resistance. The mechanisms by which pyramids impart durability are not well known. The traditional view of resistance pyramids considers the use of major resistance gene (R-gene) combinations deployed against pathogens that are primarily asexual. Interestingly, published examples of the successful use of pyramids in the traditional sense are rare. In contrast, most published descriptions of durable pyramids in practice are for cereal rusts, and tend to indicate an association between durability and cultivars combining major R-genes with incompletely expressed, adult plant resistance genes. Pyramids have been investigated experimentally for a diversity of pathogens, and many reduce disease levels below that of the single best gene. Resistance gene combinations have been identified through phenotypic reactions, molecular markers, and challenge against effector genes. As resistance genes do not express equally in all genetic backgrounds, however, a combination of genetic information and phenotypic analyses provide the ideal scenario for testing of putative pyramids. Not all resistance genes contribute equally to pyramids, and approaches have been suggested to identify the best genes and combinations of genes for inclusion. Combining multiple resistance genes into a single plant genotype quickly is a challenge that is being addressed through alternative breeding approaches, as well as through genomics tools such as resistance gene cassettes and gene editing. Experimental and modeling tests of pyramid durability are in their infancy, but have promise to help direct future studies of pyramids. Several areas for further work on resistance gene pyramids are suggested.

Effects of Pyramiding Quantitative Resistance Genes pi21, Pi34, and Pi35 on Rice Leaf Blast Disease

Development of resistant cultivars has been an effective method for controlling rice blast disease caused by Magnaporthe oryzae. Quantitative blast resistance genes may offer durable resistance because the selection pressure on M. oryzae to overcome resistance is low as a result of the genes' moderate susceptibility. Because the effects of individual resistance genes are relatively small, pyramiding these genes in rice cultivars is a promising strategy. Here, we used near-isogenic and backcross lines of rice cultivar Koshihikari with single- or two-gene combinations of blast resistance genes (pi21, Pi34, and Pi35) to evaluate the suppression of leaf blast. The severity of the disease was assessed throughout the infection process. Resistance varied among the lines: Pi35 conferred the strongest resistance, while Pi34 showed the weakest effects. Two types of combined-gene interactions were observed, and they varied on the basis of gene combination and characteristic of the infection: (i) the combination of two resistance genes was more effective than either of the genes individually or (ii) the combination of two resistance genes was similar to the level of the most effective resistance gene in the pair. The most effective gene combination for the suppression of leaf blast was pi21 + Pi35.

Slow-Rusting Resistance in Native Spearmint to Puccinia menthae

Rust, caused by Puccinia menthae, is often a serious yield-reducing problem on native and Scotch spearmint in south-central Washington State. Rust resistant mint cultivars would reduce a dependence on fungicides for disease management; however, conventional breeding practices are not possible because commercial mint plants are sterile. Mutant Scotch and native spearmint lines induced by irradiation were evaluated for partial resistance to rust. Latent period and number of uredinia per leaf from urediniospore inoculations in the greenhouse and aecial and uredinial development in the field were quantified. Length of latent period, number of uredinia per leaf, incidence of shoots with aecia, and area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC) for uredinia development all varied significantly among lines and standard cultivars. Length of latent period was significantly longer and number of uredinia per leaf was significantly lower for native spearmint line N87-1 than for most of the other mutant lines, native spearmint, and Scotch spearmint. Line N87-1 had the lowest AUDPC values of all lines and standard cultivars for 3 years in the field. However, line N87-1 had a relatively high incidence of shoots with aecia both of two years in the field. Length of latent period was significantly and negatively correlated with AUDPC 2 of 3 years. Mean incidence of shoots with aecia was not correlated with AUDPC or with length of latent period after urediniospore infection. Rust in native spearmint in south-central Washington State could be satisfactorily managed with slow-rusting resistance when coupled with good irrigation water management and sanitation tactics that limit aecia development on early spring mint foliage.

Use of multiline cultivars and cultivar mixtures for disease management

The usefulness of mixtures (multiline cultivars and cultivar mixtures) for disease management has been well demonstrated for rusts and powdery mildews of small grain crops. Such mixtures are more useful under some epidemiological conditions than under others, and experimental methodology, especially problems of scale, may be crucial in evaluating the potential efficacy of mixtures on disease. There are now examples of mixtures providing both low and high degrees of disease control for a wide range of pathosystems, including crops with large plants, and pathogens that demonstrate low host specificity, or are splash dispersed, soilborne, or insect vectored. Though most analyses of pathogen evolution in mixtures consider static costs of virulence to be the main mechanism countering selection for pathogen complexity, many other potential mechanisms need to be investigated. Agronomic and marketing considerations must be carefully evaluated when implementing mixture approaches to crop management. Practical difficulties associated with mixtures have often been overestimated, however, and mixtures will likely play an increasingly important role as we develop more sustainable agricultural systems.

Development of bacterial spot on near-isogenic lines of bell pepper carrying gene pyramids composed of defeated major resistance genes

ABSTRACT Disease severity caused by races 1 through 6 of Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria on eight near-isogenic lines (isolines) of Early Calwonder (ECW) with three major resistance genes (Bs1, Bs2, and Bs3) in different combinations was evaluated in the greenhouse and field. Strains representing races 1, 3, 4, and 6 caused similar high levels of disease severity, followed by races 2 and 5 on susceptible ECW. Race 3 caused severe disease on all isolines lacking resistance gene Bs2. Race 4, which defeats Bs1 and Bs2, caused less disease on isoline ECW-12R (carries Bs1 + Bs2), than on isolines ECW, ECW-10R (carries Bs1), and ECW-20R (carries Bs2). Similar results were obtained with race 4 strains in field studies conducted during 1997 and 1998. In greenhouse studies, race 6, which defeats all three major genes, caused less disease on isoline ECW-13R (carries Bs1 + Bs3) and ECW-123R (carries Bs1 + Bs2 + Bs3) than on isolines ECW, ECW-10R, ECW-20R, and ECW-30R (carries Bs3), but not on ECW-23R (carries Bs2 + Bs3). In greenhouse studies with commercial hybrids, strains of races 4 and 6 caused less disease on Boynton Bell (carries Bs1 + Bs2) than on Camelot (carries no known resistance genes), King Arthur (carries Bs1), and X3R Camelot (carries Bs2). Race 6 caused less disease on hybrid R6015 (carries Bs1 + Bs2 + Bs3) and Sentinel (carries Bs1 + Bs3) than on Camelot. Residual effects were not as evident in field studies with race 6 strains. Defeated major resistance genes deployed in specific gene combinations (i.e., gene pyramids) were associated with less area under the disease progress curve than when genes were deployed individually in isolines of ECW or commercial hybrids. Successful management of bacterial spot of pepper is achieved incrementally by integrating multiple tactics. Although there is evidence of residual effects from defeated genes, these effects alone likely will not provide acceptable bacterial spot control in commercial production fields. However, when combined with sanitation practices and a judicious spray program, pyramids of defeated resistance genes may aid in reducing the risk of major losses due to bacterial spot.

Epidemiology in mixed host populations

ABSTRACT Although plant disease epidemiology has focused on populations in which all host plants have the same genotype, mixtures of host genotypes are more typical of natural populations and offer promising options for deployment of resistance genes in agriculture. In this review, we discuss Leonard's classic model of the effects of host genotype diversity on disease and its predictions of disease level based on the proportion of susceptible host tissue. As a refinement to Leonard's model, the spatial structure of host and pathogen population can be taken into account by considering factors such as autoinfection, interaction between host size and pathogen dispersal gradients, lesion expansion, and host carrying capacity for disease. The genetic composition of the host population also can be taken into account by considering differences in race-specific resistance among host genotypes, compensation, plant competition, and competitive interactions among pathogen genotypes. The magnitude of host-diversity effects for particular host-pathogen systems can be predicted by considering how the inherent characteristics of a system causes it to differ from the assumptions of the classic model. Because of the limited number of studies comparing host-diversity effects in different systems, it is difficult at this point to make more than qualitative predictions. Environmental conditions and management decisions also influence host-diversity effects on disease through their effect on factors such as host density and epidemic length and intensity.

Pathogenicity of Leptosphaeria maculans Isolates on a Brassica napus-B. juncea Recombinant Line

ABSTRACT The Brassica napus-B. juncea recombinant line (MX), resistant to Leptosphaeria maculans, was produced by interspecific crosses and bears one gene (Jlm1) from the B. juncea B genome. We investigated whether this new resistance was race specific by characterizing protection against a large sample of L. maculans isolates. The pathogenicity of 119 isolates of L. maculans comprising 105 A-group isolates and 14 B-group isolates was studied at the cotyledon stage under controlled conditions using the MX line, the susceptible B. napus cultivar Westar, and the resistant B. juncea cultivar Picra. All but one of the isolates were pathogenic on 'Westar'. Only 3 of the 105 A-group isolates caused very mild symptoms on 'Picra'. Two of these strains were isolated from the MX line and the other from Sinapis arvensis. The other 102 strains caused hypersensitive-type responses. Most B-group isolates were pathogenic on 'Picra'. There were differences in pathogenicity among A-group isolates tested on the MX line, whereas all B-group isolates were pathogenic on this line. A-group isolates obtained from the MX line were more frequently pathogenic on the MX line than those obtained from B. napus cultivars. One isolate from S. arvensis infected the MX line. These results suggest that the resistance of the MX line is unlikely to be durable. Thus, the new resistance gene Jlm1 should probably be used in association with other sources of resistance, in plant breeding schemes, to prevent the breakdown of this resistance.

Primary disease gradients of bacterial blight of rice

ABSTRACT The dispersal potential of Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae, causal agent of bacterial blight of rice (Oryzae sativa), was investigated through measurement of primary disease gradients. Plants within individual hills of rice were inoculated, and the number of new lesions in the primary generation of dispersal from these inoculated sources was counted. Two dispersal models that can describe the number of infections at the source (the Kiyosawa and Shiyomi and the modified Gregory) were fit to the lesion counts. Estimated gradient slopes were similar in the 2 years of the study for both gradient models. However, the Kiyosawa and Shiyomi model gave a better fit in both years, as indicated by higher coefficients of determination and significances of slopes and by a more random pattern of residuals. Primary disease gradients were very steep, with half-distances (distances over which lesion numbers are calculated to decrease by half) estimated from the Kiyosawa and Shiyomi model of 0.091 and 0.081 m in 1994 and 1995, respectively. Splash dispersal of X. oryzae pv. oryzae is the most likely explanation for both the steep slopes measured and the superior fit of the Kiyosawa and Shiyomi model over the modified Gregory model.