Heterogeneous Nature of a ‘new’ Pathotype of Melampsora Rust on Salix Revealed by AFLP

Abstract

An outbreak of rust on Salix × mollissima (S. triandra × S. viminalis) ‘Q83’, an important biomass willow, was first observed at several locations in the UK in 1992. Rust collections obtained from ‘Q83’ in 1992 at Long Ashton (south west England), Markington (Northern England) and Loughgall (Northern Ireland), were tested for pathogenicity and examined using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP). All collections showed the same pathogenicity patterns on the eight willow differentials and were assigned to f.sp. larici-epitea typica of Melampsora epitea. A total of 304 AFLP markers was scored for 54 rust isolates, 20 from Long Ashton, 20 from Markington and 14 from Loughgall. Cluster analysis placed the isolates into three distinct groups according to the collection sites. Within each site, Markington isolates were least variable, Nei & Li's similarity coefficients averaging 0.996. Average similarities within isolates from Long Ashton and Loughgall were 0.899 and 0.883, respectively. Average per-locus diversity within site (H_j′), calculated using Shannon information index, was 0.014 in Markington, 0.24 in Long Ashton and 0.23 in Loughgall population. Most diversity (69.1%) was partitioned between populations. An analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) attributed 85.8% of variance to between populations and 14.2% to the individuals within populations. The results suggest that, in 1992, this previously unknown pathotype was not spread from a common source but from separate sources. The AFLP analysis and early records on the host range of M. epitea indicate that the rust virulent to S. × mollissima may have existed in nature before 1992.