The Biology and Evolution of Rust Fungi with M. Catherine Aime, PhD

The Biology and Evolution of Rust Fungi with M. Catherine Aime, PhD
In terms of species numbers the rust fungi (Pucciniales) are an incredibly successful lineage. Together, the more than 7000 described species form the largest known monophyletic group of plant pathogens. All are obligate parasites of vascular plants including agricultural, forest and ornamental crops resulting in billions of dollars of damage worldwide each year. An intriguing aspect of rust biology is that species display an alternation of generations, with many species also alternating hosts during development, termed heteroecious. Additionally, most rusts require five different developmental stages to complete their life cycle. Whether these unique characteristics are ancestral or derived within the rusts has never been satisfactorily resolved. Most classical treatments of rust phylogeny and classification were based on the hypothesis that “primitive” hosts (e.g., ferns) harbored “primitive” rusts (e.g., Uredinopsis, Hyalopsora) that alternate on members of the Pinaceae. However, alternative hypotheses of rust evolution have proposed various short-cycled primarily tropical rusts as ancestral, with the defining characteristic of heteroecism thus being derived within the group. Molecular studies based on rDNA genes have since disproved the fern rust hypothesis, but the second hypothesis has not been previously tested. This study analyzes loci from multiple genes and taxa selected from all known families to resolve the base of the rust fungi and infer ancestral characters including the origins of heteroecism, alternation of generations, and the five stage developmental cycle for the order. Implications for rust diversification are discussed.
M. Catherine Aime, Professor of Mycology and Director of the Arthur and Kriebel Herbaria, Department of Botany & Plant Pathology, Purdue University.
IllinoisMyco.org

[@SteveMMarek]

Great talk (and Q&A)! Every rust scientist must watch!

[@cindyclay1750]

Wow! ....my mind is happily melting, thank you for your relentless research! Us biologists love this!

[@sunshinedenney8695]

This person is a fabulous storyteller science and art combines 💛
thank you so much

[@mycomagus]

Great talk, thank you :)

[@rafalklepinski7372]

Excellent video, I've learned a lot. As a layman I'd guess there *were* mostly the types of fungi which re-infected one host repeatedly, but if a pathogen is *too* efficient at killing its host, it quickly runs out of hosts. Same goes for viruses. You could get 100% contagion, 100% lethality and long-range airborne spread, but then you'd extinct yourself by killing all your hosts. So seems to me in the long run you need to pump the breaks on infectious efficacy and that's how you win the billion-year long game. Evolution is a clever beast.
I'm dealing with Stogonospora. Trying to find a way to eliminate it on my Amaryllis bulbs. That's how I stumbled into here. If anyone knows a sure-fire way to kill stogonospora in infected bulbs (heat?) without killing the host I'd love to try.