Genetic structure and mating type analysis of the Pyricularia oryzae population causing widespread epidemics in southern Brazil.

Blast is a major disease of rice in Brazil, the largest rice-producing country outside Asia. This study aimed to assess the genetic structure and mating-type frequency in a contemporary Pyricularia oryzae population, which caused widespread epidemics during the 2012/13 season in the Brazilian lowland subtropical region. Symptomatic leaves and panicles were sampled at flooded rice fields in the states of Rio Grande do Sul (RS, 34 fields) and Santa Catarina (SC, 21 fields). The polymorphism at ten simple sequence repeats (SSR or microsatellite) loci and the presence of MAT1-1 or MAT1-2 idiomorphs were assessed in a population comprised of 187 isolates. Only the MAT1-2 idiomorph was found and 162 genotypes were identified by the SSR analysis. A discriminant analysis of principal components (DAPC) of SSR data resolved four genetic groups, which were strongly associated with the cultivar of origin of the isolates. There was high level of genotypic diversity and moderate level of gene diversity regardless whether isolates were grouped in subpopulations based on geographic region, cultivar host or cultivar within region. While regional subpopulations were weakly differentiated, high genetic differentiation was found among subpopulations comprised of isolates from different cultivars. The data suggest that the rice blast pathogen population in southern Brazil is comprised of clonal lineages that are adapting to specific cultivar hosts. Farmers should avoid the use of susceptible cultivars over large areas and breeders should focus at enlarging the genetic basis of new cultivars.

Mating system variation among populations, individuals and within and among fruits in Bertholletia excelsa.

The aim of this study was to investigate variation in mating system among three Brazilian Amazon populations of the tree Bertholletia excelsa with different levels of anthropogenic interventions. We collected open-pollinated seeds from one natural population, remnant trees dispersed in a pasture, and trees from a plantation. Outcrossing rate not varied among the populations and indicates that all seeds were originated from outcrossing (tm=1.0). Mating among relatives was significant higher in the plantation than forest and pasture populations, probably due the fact that many trees are related in the plantation. Correlated mating was significantly higher in pasture (rp=0.47) and plantation (rp=0.51) than in the natural population (rp=0.22), suggesting that trees in natural population are pollinated by a higher number of pollen donors. The paternity correlation was significantly higher within (rp(w)=0.41) than among fruits (rp(a)=0.18), showing a higher probability to find full-sibs within than among fruits. The fixation index was generally lower in seed trees than in their seedlings, suggesting selection for heterozygous individuals from seedling to adult stages. Progeny arrays collected from the natural population had a lower proportion of pairwise full-sibs than in pasture and plantation and higher variance effective size (2.75) than trees in pasture (2.15) and plantations (2.22). Results highlight that seed collections for conservation, breeding and reforestation programs preferentially should be carried out in natural populations due low proportion highest variance effective size within progeny.