The recent history of Puccinia striiformis f.sp. tritici in Denmark as revealed by disease incidence and AFLP markers

Disease observations and amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers were used to study recent developments in the Puccinia striiformis f.sp. tritici population in Denmark. The fungus appeared spontaneously at 10 locations in Denmark in 1997 after it was not observed under natural conditions in 1996. The pattern of disease development and prevailing winds suggested that the fungus reappeared by airborne spores from the south or west. In 1998, disease incidence was more evenly distributed throughout the country. Forty-eight single lesion isolates were collected from most crops where the disease was observed in these years; all except one from 1997 belonged to two pathotypes that were not previously detected in the country, and both possessed the newly discovered Yr17 virulence. The isolates were characterized with AFLP markers together with 28 isolates representing eight of 13 pathotypes observed prior to 1996. Initial screening of 240 Pst I/ Mse I AFLP primer combinations on four isolates showed that a primer combination, on average, revealed 0·4 polymorphisms between any isolate pair. A selection of 21 primer combinations resulted in 28 AFLP markers, which revealed 16 AFLP phenotypes among all 76 isolates. The two Yr17- virulent pathotypes consisted of three AFLP phenotypes, which were observed in both 1997 and 1998; the two most frequent AFLP phenotypes occurred at most sampling locations and often within the same crop. AFLP diversity was larger among samples collected prior to 1996, and also in this period most AFLP phenotypes were observed at different sampling locations. These results are consistent with the features of an entirely asexually reproducing pathogen dispersed by aerial spores across large areas.