Population Processes at Multiple Spatial Scales Maintain Diversity and Adaptation in the Linum marginale - Melampsora lini Association

Abstract

Host-pathogen coevolution is a major driver of species diversity, with an essential role in the generation and maintenance of genetic variation in host resistance and pathogen infectivity. Little is known about how resistance and infectivity are structured across multiple geographic scales and what eco-evolutionary processes drive these patterns. Across southern Australia, the wild flax Linum marginale is frequently attacked by its rust fungus Melampsora lini. Here, we compare the genetic and phenotypic structure of resistance and infectivity among population pairs from two regions where environmental differences associate with specific life histories and mating systems. We find that both host and pathogen populations are genetically distinct between these regions. The region with outcrossing hosts and pathogens that go through asexual cycles followed by sexual reproduction showed greater diversity of resistance and infectivity phenotypes, higher levels of resistance and less clumped within-population spatial distribution of resistance. However, in the region where asexual pathogens infect selfing hosts, pathogens were more infective and better adapted to sympatric hosts. Our findings largely agree with expectations based on the distinctly different host mating systems in the two regions, with a likely advantage for hosts undergoing recombination. For the pathogen in this system, sexual reproduction may primarily be a survival mechanism in the region where it is observed. While it appears to potentially have adverse effects on local adaptation in the short term, it may be necessary for longer-term coevolution with outcrossing hosts.