Virulence and community dynamics of fungal species with vertical and horizontal transmission on a plant with multiple infections

PLoS Pathog. 2021 Jul 15;17(7):e1009769. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1009769. eCollection 2021 Jul.

Abstract

The virulence evolution of multiple infections of parasites from the same species has been modeled widely in evolution theory. However, experimental studies on this topic remain scarce, particularly regarding multiple infections by different parasite species. Here, we characterized the virulence and community dynamics of fungal pathogens on the invasive plant Ageratina adenophora to verify the predictions made by the model. We observed that A. adenophora was highly susceptible to diverse foliar pathogens with mixed vertical and horizontal transmission within leaf spots. The transmission mode mainly determined the pathogen community structure at the leaf spot level. Over time, the pathogen community within a leaf spot showed decreased Shannon diversity; moreover, the vertically transmitted pathogens exhibited decreased virulence to the host A. adenophora, but the horizontally transmitted pathogens exhibited increased virulence to the host. Our results demonstrate that the predictions of classical models for the virulence evolution of multiple infections are still valid in a complex realistic environment and highlight the impact of transmission mode on disease epidemics of foliar fungal pathogens. We also propose that seedborne fungi play an important role in structuring the foliar pathogen community from multiple infections within a leaf spot.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Ageratina / microbiology*
  • Coinfection / microbiology
  • Coinfection / transmission
  • Disease Transmission, Infectious
  • Host-Pathogen Interactions / physiology*
  • Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical
  • Mycoses / transmission*
  • Plant Diseases*
  • Virulence

Grants and funding

HZ acquired finacially supports from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 31770585 and 31360153). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.