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Inbreeding levels of two Ustilago maydis populations

     USDA-ARS Cereal Disease Laboratory, 1551 Lindig Street, St. Paul, Minnesota 55108-6052

Les J. Szabo

     USDA-ARS Cereal Disease Laboratory and Department of Plant Pathology, University of Minnesota, 1551, Lindig St., St. Paul, Minnesota 55108-6052

Georgiana May

     Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota, 100 Ecology Building, 1987, Upper Buford Circle, St. Paul, Minnesota 55108-6052

James V. Groth

     Department of Plant Pathology, University of Minnesota, 495 Borlaug Hall, 1991 Upper Burford, Circle, St. Paul, Minnesota 55108-6052

Little is known about the population mating behavior of the smut fungus Ustilago maydis DC (Corda). To determine the amount of inbreeding that occurs in local U. maydis populations, two cornfields were sampled, one in North America (NA) at Le Sueur, Minnesota, and one in South America (SA) at Tarariras, Uruguay. These fields were chosen because of their geographic isolation and host management differences. Inbreeding coefficients (F_is) were calculated using data derived from amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers. Mean F_is values estimated for both the NA (–0.08), and the SA (–0.02) populations statistically are not different from zero. The results of this study demonstrate that the U. maydis population structure in both cornfields results predominately from out-crossing and suggests that teliospores infrequently act as single infection units. The genetic differentiation between populations was high (F_st = 0.25).

Key words: corn smut, Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium, heterozygosity, maximum parsimony analysis, Wright’s inbreeding coefficient

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