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Digest: Plant‐pathogen coevolution extends to shifts in plant breeding systems *
Author(s) -
Hawkins Nichola J.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.84
H-Index - 199
eISSN - 1558-5646
pISSN - 0014-3820
DOI - 10.1111/evo.13687
Subject(s) - biology , smut , coevolution , gynodioecy , pollinator , biological dispersal , host (biology) , stamen , botany , ecology , pollination , dioecy , pollen , population , demography , sociology
Plants and their pathogens are in a coevolutionary arms race. Some pathogens, such as anther smuts, use their host plants’ pollinators for spore dispersal. In the plant Dianthus pavonius , gynodioecy (having female and hermaphroditic plants) has evolved to reduce flowering duration and therefore limit exposure to anther smut pathogens. Bruns et al. (2019) show that this shift in breeding system has evolved as a disease escape mechanism.