Population structure of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum in an Australian canola field at flowering and stem-infection stages of the disease cycle

Populations of the ascomycete pathogen Sclerotinia sclerotiorum sampled from a canola field were analysed using microsatellite markers. Fifty isolates were collected from ascospore-infested canola petals and, later in the season, another 55 isolates were obtained from stem lesions; these isolates were used to compare inoculum and disease-causing populations. Fifty-five unique haplotypes were identified, with gene diversity ranging from 0.40 to 0.71. Genotypic diversity was higher in the inoculum population than it had been in the previous year, but analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) showed that less than 10% of the variation was attributable to differences between the 2 years. Genotypic disequilibrium measures were consistent with the occurrence of both clonal reproduction and out-crossing. There was no significant population subdivision between the ascospore and stem-lesion populations, as measured with fixation indices (RST = 0.015, p = 0.90) and AMOVA, suggesting that there are no genetically defined subgroups of isolates more likely to proceed from petal colonization to cause stem infection. This might be because S. sclerotiorum possesses wide-ranging pathogenicity mechanisms that account for the lack of host specificity observed to date.