cryptosexuality and the genetic diversity paradox in coffee rust, hemileia vastatrixcryptosexuality和咖啡锈病,遗传多样性悖论hemileia vastatrix.pdfVIP

Cryptosexuality and the Genetic Diversity Paradox in Coffee Rust, Hemileia vastatrix 1 2 1 Carlos Roberto Carvalho , Ronaldo C. Fernandes , Guilherme Mendes Almeida Carvalho , Robert W. Barreto2, Harry C. Evans2,3* 1 Departamento de Biologia Geral, Universidade Federal de Vic¸osa, Minas Gerais, Brazil, 2 Departamento de Fitopatologia, Universidade Federal de Vic¸osa, Minas Gerais, Brazil, 3 CAB International, Egham, Surrey, United Kingdom Abstract Background: Despite the fact that coffee rust was first investigated scientifically more than a century ago, and that the disease is one of the major constraints to coffee production - constantly changing the socio-economic and historical landscape of the crop - critical aspects of the life cycle of the pathogen, Hemileia vastatrix, remain unclear. The asexual urediniospores are regarded as the only functional propagule: theoretically, making H. vastatrix a clonal species. However, the well-documented emergence of new rust pathotypes and the breakdown in genetic resistance of coffee cultivars, present a paradox. Methods and Results: Here, using computer-assisted DNA image cytometry, following a modified nuclear stoichiometric staining technique with Feulgen, we show that meiosis occurs within the urediniospores. Stages of spore development were categorised based on morphology, from the spore-mother cell through to the germinating spore, and the relative nuclear DNA content was quantified statistically at each stage. Conclusions: Hidden sexual reproduction disguised within the asexual s