Laboratory production of oospores of Peronospora parasitica (crucifer downy mildew) and the recovery and characterization of sexual progeny from crosses between isolates with different host specificity

The production of viable oospores of Peronospora parasitica under laboratory conditions and the recovery of isolates (referred to as sexual progeny) from these oospore populations are described. Oospores were produced when isolates of opposite sexual compatibility type, specialized to the same or different Brassica species, were grown together in seedling cotyledons of a host line capable of supporting growth of both isolates. Recovery of sexual progeny from oospore populations produced from two out of four pairings between isolates specialized to the same host species (homologous pairings) proved relatively easy. On the basis of their characterization with respect to virulence, response to phenylamide fungicides, sexual compatibility type and isoenzyme polymorphisms, there was evidence that the sexual progeny from these homologous pairings could be of hybrid origin. For the first time in a member of the Peronosporaceae, it proved possible to recover and successfully characterize a few sexual progeny from pairings between isolates specialized to different host species (heterologous pairings). However, the majority of such isolates sporulated weakly and as a consequence proved difficult to maintain and were lost. Nevertheless, some evidence for the hybrid nature of progeny from heterologous pairings was obtained.