Invasion of Rhynchosporium commune onto wild barley in the Middle East

Abstract

Rhynchosporium commune was recently introduced into the Middle East, presumably with the cultivated host barley (Hordeum vulgare). Middle Eastern populations of R. commune on cultivated barley and wild barley (H. spontaneum) were genetically undifferentiated and shared a high proportion of multilocus haplotypes. This suggests that there has been little selection for host specialization on H. spontaneum, a host population often used as a source of resistance genes introduced into its domesticated counterpart, H. vulgare. Low levels of pathogen genetic diversity on H. vulgare as well as on H. spontaneum, indicate that the pathogen was introduced recently into the Middle East, perhaps through immigration on infected cultivated barley seeds, and then invaded the wild barley population. Although it has not been documented, the introduction of the pathogen into the Middle East may have a negative influence on the biodiversity of native Hordeum species.