Scientists study co-evolutionary relationship between rust fungi and wheat and barberry

(American Phytopathological Society) Zhao and colleagues studied the co-evolutionary relationship between rust fungi and its hosts using genes specifically needed for the host infection at different spore stages. They compared the transcriptomes of Pst during infection of wheat and barberry leaves and identified the genes needed for wheat or barberry infection and the genes needed to infect both. They found a larger proportion of evolutionarily conserved genes in barberry, implying a longer history of interaction with Pst.

Source: EurekAlert! - Biology - March 18, 2021 Category: Biology Source Type: news