Emergence of wheat blast in Bangladesh was caused by a South American lineage of Magnaporthe oryzae

Tofazzal Islam; Daniel Croll; Pierre Gladieux; Darren Soanes; Antoine Persoons; Pallab Bhattacharjee; Shaid Hossain; Dipali Gupta; Md. Mahbubur Rahman; M Golam Mahboob; Nicola Cook; Moin Salam; Vanessa Bueno Sancho; Joao Nunes Maciel; Antonio Nani; Vanina Castroagudin; Juliana Teodora de Assis Reges; Paulo Ceresini; Sebastien Ravel; Ronny Kellner; Elisabeth Fournier; Didier Tharreau; marc-henri Lebrun; Bruce McDonald; Tim Stitt; Daniel Swan; Nicholas Talbot; Diane Saunders; Joe Win; Sophien Kamoun

doi:10.1101/059832

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bioRxiv · 10.1101/059832

Emergence of wheat blast in Bangladesh was caused by a South American lineage of Magnaporthe oryzae

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Abstract

In February 2016, a new fungal disease was spotted in wheat fields across eight districts in Bangladesh. The epidemic spread to an estimated 15,741 hectares, about 16% of cultivated wheat area in Bangladesh, with yield losses reaching up to 100%. Within weeks of the onset of the epidemic, we performed transcriptome sequencing of symptomatic leaf samples collected directly from Bangladeshi fields. Population genomics analyses revealed that the outbreak was caused by a wheatLinfecting South American lineage of the blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae. We show that genomic surveillance can be rapidly applied to monitor plant disease outbreaks and provide valuable information regarding the identity and origin of the infectious agent.

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Tofazzal Islam, Daniel Croll, Pierre Gladieux, Darren Soanes, Antoine Persoons, Pallab Bhattacharjee, Shaid Hossain, Dipali Gupta, Md. Mahbubur Rahman, M Golam Mahboob, Nicola Cook, Moin Salam, Vanessa Bueno Sancho, Joao Nunes Maciel, Antonio Nani, Vanina Castroagudin, Juliana Teodora de Assis Reges, Paulo Ceresini, Sebastien Ravel, Ronny Kellner, Elisabeth Fournier, Didier Tharreau, marc-henri Lebrun, Bruce McDonald, Tim Stitt, Daniel Swan, Nicholas Talbot, Diane Saunders, Joe Win, Sophien Kamoun. 2016-06-19. Emergence of wheat blast in Bangladesh was caused by a South American lineage of Magnaporthe oryzae. https://doi.org/10.1101/059832

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