Disease Resistant Cotton Varieties Can Promote The Virulence Upgrading Of Pathogens More Than Susceptible Varieties

Recently, the cotton disease prevention and control and risk assessment innovation team of the Cotton Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences found that in the co evolution of cotton host and verticillium wilt, resistant cotton varieties induce the virulence upgrade of verticillium wilt, which is of guiding significance for in-depth understanding of the interaction mechanism between host and pathogen and effective control of cotton verticillium wilt. Relevant research achievements were published in Ecotoxicology And Environmental Safety).

Verticillium wilt caused by Verticillium dahliae is one of the most serious diseases in cotton production in China. In the agricultural ecosystem, the dynamic game between plant disease resistance and pathogen virulence drives the co evolution of both sides, and the virulence differentiation of Verticillium dahliae deserves special attention.

This study analyzed the dynamic changes in physiological characteristics and genetic variation of the progeny of the highly virulent strain Vd076, identified the induction effect of different resistant cotton varieties on the virulence differentiation of Verticillium dahliae, and clarified the key molecular pathway of virulence differentiation. The study found that, compared with the medium and low virulence strains, the high virulence strains showed significant physiological characteristics and genome plasticity; Disease resistant cotton varieties can promote the virulence upgrading of pathogens more than susceptible varieties. The research results revealed the important law of adaptive evolution of pathogens driven by plant resistance, which provided theoretical support for the establishment of the control system of verticillium wilt based on coevolution theory.

The research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the introduction plan of "Tianchi Talents" in Xinjiang, the Natural Science Foundation of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, and the Science and Technology Innovation Project of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.