Variation in cultural characteristics, pathogenicity, vegetative compatibility and electrophoretic karyotype within field populations of Stagonospora nodorum

Isolates of Stagonospora nodorum, the cause of septoria leaf and glume blotch of wheat, were sampled intensively from single fields in two consecutive years and compared for growth rate, colony morphology, pathogenicity, vegetative compatibility and electrophoretic karyotype. The two populations were highly variable for all characters, even though the isolates in each population originated from a small geographical area. Studies of vegetative compatibility within each population indicated the presence of many genotypes and suggested that clonal spread was very limited. Individual lesions contained a single genotype and therefore, presumably, originated from a single unit of inoculum. However, adjacent lesions, even on the same leaf, frequently contained different genotypes. Ten isolates from population II possessed six different karyotypes, demonstrating that polymorphism for this fundamental feature of the genome occurs within field populations. The population structure revealed by these studies supports the hypothesis that ascospores play a major role in the epidemiology of the disease. On this basis, the observed variation in all the characters, including karyotype, can be explained by recombination during sexual reproduction.