Identification of the MAT1 locus in Stagonosporopsis tanaceti, and exploring its potential for sexual reproduction in Australian pyrethrum fields

Abstract

Stagonosporopsis chrysanthemi, S. inoxydabilis, and S. tanaceti are closely related Ascomycetes associated with ray blight of the Asteraceae. To date, only S. tanaceti has been identified in Australia, incurring substantial losses to the pyrethrum industry. In contrast to the homothallic S. chrysanthemi and S. inoxydabilis, a sexual state has not been observed for S. tanaceti. The MAT1 locus in S. tanaceti was identified through de novo assembly of shotgun reads, and was further used to develop primers for amplification of the full-length MAT1/2 locus in S. chrysanthemi and S. inoxydabilis. As expected, S. chrysanthemi and S. inoxydabilis possessed a MAT1/2 locus typical of homothallic Dothi..