Multiple scenarios for sexual crosses in the fungal pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici on wheat residues: Potential consequences for virulence gene transmission.

Little is known about the impact of host immunity on sexual reproduction in fungal pathogens. In particular, it is unclear whether crossing requires both sexual partners to infect living plant tissues. We addressed this issue in a three-year experiment investigating different scenarios of Zymoseptoria tritici crosses according to the virulence ('vir') or avirulence ('avr') of the parents against a qualitative resistance gene.

Patterns of thermal adaptation in a globally distributed plant pathogen: Local diversity and plasticity reveal two-tier dynamics.

Plant pathogen populations inhabit patchy environments with contrasting, variable thermal conditions. We investigated the diversity of thermal responses in populations sampled over contrasting spatiotemporal scales, to improve our understanding of their dynamics of adaptation to local conditions. Samples of natural populations of the wheat pathogen were collected from sites within the Euro-Mediterranean region subject to a broad range of climatic conditions.

Phenotyping Thermal Responses of Yeasts and Yeast-like Microorganisms at the Individual and Population Levels: Proof-of-Concept, Development and Application of an Experimental Framework to a Plant Pathogen.

Deciphering the responses of microbial populations to spatiotemporal changes in their thermal environment is instrumental in improving our understanding of their eco-evolutionary dynamics. Recent studies have shown that current phenotyping protocols do not adequately address all dimensions of phenotype expression. Therefore, these methods can give biased assessments of sensitivity to temperature, leading to misunderstandings concerning the ecological processes underlying thermal plasticity.