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Sexual Recombination in the Botrytis cinerea Populations in Hungarian Vineyards

First author: Research Institute for Viticulture and Enology, H-3301 Eger, Kölyuktetö, P.O. Box 83, Hungary; second, fifth, and eighth authors: Department of Plant Protection, Centre for Agricultural Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Debrecen, H-4032 Böszörményi út 138, Debrecen, Hungary; third and fourth authors: Department of Genetics and Applied Microbiology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Debrecen, H-4010, P.O. Box 56, Debrecen, Hungary; sixth and seventh authors: Institute of Animal Sciences, Centre for Agricultural Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Debrecen, H-4032 Böszörményi út 138; and ninth and tenth authors: Vienna University of Technology, Institute of Chemical Engineering, Division of Gene Technology and Applied Biochemistry, Getreidemarkt 9/E1665, A-1060 Vienna, Austria. First and second authors contributed equally to this manuscript.

Botrytis cinerea (anamorph of Botryotinia fuckeliana) causes gray mold on a high number of crop plants including grapes. In this study, we investigated the genetic properties of a grape pathogenic population of B. cinerea in the area of Eger, Hungary. A total of 109 isolates from 12 areas were sampled. Based on the sequence of the β-tubulin (tub1) locus, they all belong to group II, a phylogenetic species within B. cinerea. Seventy-four isolates were classified as transposa, with both the Flipper and Boty transposons, and 10 were classified as vacuma, lacking both transposons. The remaining isolates contained either only Flipper (13) or Boty (12). Multilocus analysis of sequences from tub1 and two other loci (elongation factor 1-alpha, tef1, and a minisatellite from the intron of an ATPase, MSB1) led to poor phylogenetic resolution of strains in individual clades. Analysis of five microsatellites (Bc2, Bc3, Bc5, Bc6, and Bc10) resulted in 55 microsatellite haplotypes within the 109 strains. No correlation was detected among individual haplotypes and the presence/absence of Flipper and/or Boty, the geographic origin, or the year of isolation. Application of the index of association, the chi-square test, and the phi test consistently indicated that the population of Hungarian isolates of B. cinerea undergoes sexual reproduction. However, the index of association test suggested the presence of some clonality, and the fixation index showed a low or occasionally moderate level of fixation in the Flipper populations. We conclude that the B. cinerea populations in Hungary consist of a strongly recombining group II phylogenetic species.

Additional keywords:transposable elements.