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September 21, 2019

Potato late blight field resistance from QTL dPI09c is conferred by the NB-LRR gene R8.

Following the often short-lived protection that major nucleotide binding, leucine-rich-repeat (NB-LRR) resistance genes offer against the potato pathogen Phytophthora infestans, field resistance was thought to provide a more durable alternative to prevent late blight disease. We previously identified the QTL dPI09c on potato chromosome 9 as a more durable field resistance source against late blight. Here, the resistance QTL was fine-mapped to a 186 kb region. The interval corresponds to a larger, 389 kb, genomic region in the potato reference genome of Solanum tuberosum Group Phureja doubled monoploid clone DM1-3 (DM) and from which functional NB-LRRs R8, R9a, Rpi-moc1, and Rpi_vnt1 have arisen independently in wild species. dRenSeq analysis of parental clones alongside resistant and susceptible bulks of the segregating population B3C1HP showed full sequence representation of R8. This was independently validated using long-range PCR and screening of a bespoke bacterial artificial chromosome library. The latter enabled a comparative analysis of the sequence variation in this locus in diverse Solanaceae. We reveal for the first time that broad spectrum and durable field resistance against P. infestans is conferred by the NB-LRR gene R8, which is thought to provide narrow spectrum race-specific resistance.


September 21, 2019

Divergent selection causes whole genome differentiation without physical linkage among the targets in Spodoptera frugiperda (Noctuidae)

The process of speciation involves whole genome differentiation by overcoming gene flow between diverging populations. We have ample knowledge which evolutionary forces may cause genomic differentiation, and several speciation models have been proposed to explain the transition from genetic to genomic differentiation. However, it is still unclear what are critical conditions enabling genomic differentiation in nature. The Fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda, is observed as two sympatric strains that have different host-plant ranges, suggesting the possibility of ecological divergent selection. In our previous study, we observed that these two strains show genetic differentiation across the whole genome with an unprecedentedly low extent, suggesting the possibility that whole genome sequences started to be differentiated between the strains. In this study, we analyzed whole genome sequences from these two strains from Mississippi to identify critical evolutionary factors for genomic differentiation. The genomic Fst is low (0.017) while 91.3% of 10kb windows have Fst greater than 0, suggesting genome-wide differentiation with a low extent. We identified nearly 400 outliers of genetic differentiation between strains, and found that physical linkage among these outliers is not a primary cause of genomic differentiation. Fst is not significantly correlated with gene density, a proxy for the strength of selection, suggesting that a genomic reduction in migration rate dominates the extent of local genetic differentiation. Our analyses reveal that divergent selection alone is sufficient to generate genomic differentiation, and any following diversifying factors may increase the level of genetic differentiation between diverging strains in the process of speciation.


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