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Long‐distance gene flow outweighs a century of local selection and prevents local adaptation in the Irish famine pathogen P hytophthora infestans
Author(s) -
Glais Isabelle,
Montarry Josselin,
Corbière Roselyne,
Pasco Claudine,
Marquer Bruno,
Magalon Hélène,
Andrivon Didier
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
evolutionary applications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.776
H-Index - 68
ISSN - 1752-4571
DOI - 10.1111/eva.12142
Subject(s) - biology , local adaptation , famine , adaptation (eye) , irish , selection (genetic algorithm) , gene flow , pathogen , ecology , gene , evolutionary biology , genetics , demography , genetic variation , population , neuroscience , artificial intelligence , sociology , computer science , linguistics , philosophy , political science , law
Sustainably managing plant resistance to epidemic pathogens implies controlling the genetic and demographic changes in pathogen populations faced with resistant hosts. Resistance management thus depends upon the dynamics of local adaptation, mainly driven by the balance between selection and gene flow. This dynamics is best investigated with populations from locally dominant hosts in islands with long histories of local selection. We used the unique case of the potato late blight pathosystem on Jersey, where a monoculture of potato cultivar ‘Jersey Royal’ has been in place for over a century. We also sampled populations from the coasts of Brittany and Normandy, as likely sources for gene flow. The isolation by distance pattern and the absence of genetic differentiation between Jersey and the closest French sites revealed gene flow at that spatial scale. Microsatellite allele frequencies revealed no evidence of recombination in the populations, but admixture of two genotypic clusters. No local adaptation in Jersey was detected from pathogenicity tests on Jersey Royal and on French cultivars. These data suggest that long‐distance gene flow (~ 50/100 km) prevents local adaptation in Jersey despite a century of local selection by a single host cultivar and emphasize the need for regional rather than local management of resistance gene deployment.