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POSTERS: Mycology I

P-387 - Two pathosystems, two lifestyles, and their synergistic interactions damage canola, Canada's number one field crop

Monday, August 4, 2025
4:30 PM - 5:15 PM HST
Location: Exhibit Hall 3
Abstract Text: Canola is Canada's number one crop, adding 30 billion to the economy each year. For over five
decades, the canola’s number one disease has been the stubble-borne pathogen Leptosphaeria
maculans, which causes blackleg disease. The occurrence of a new soilborne pathogen, Verticillium
longisporum, which causes Verticillium stripe disease, has added a new dimension to canola diseases,
mainly due to the interaction of the two pathosystems while they have very different lifestyles. Blackleg is
primarily managed by qualitative resistance (R-genes), and their interactions with avirulent and virulent
alleles of Lm are well established. At the same time, Vl’s pathosystem and how the crop performs
against the pathogen are less well known. The two pathogens colonizing the same plant have been
observed, and a higher disease in blackleg has been observed. Our study looked at their interactions at
the molecular level. The canola Topas introgressed lines carrying different Rlm (R-genes) genes were
inoculated with Vl. The Blackleg disease was significantly increased in the R-Avr gene interactions but
not in the R-avr interactions. The verticillium stripe was not significantly affected. Probes developed to
identify and quantify the presence of Lm and Vl in the canola plants (qPCR) were used, and the data
and findings will be presented at the conference. The interaction between Lm and Vl, which causes a
shift in the receptor-effector relationship, is being studied.