Mating type idiomorphs from a French population of the wheat pathogen Mycosphaerella graminicola: widespread equal distribution and low but distinct levels of molecular polymorphism

Septoria tritici blotch caused by the heterothallic ascomycete Mycosphaerella graminicola is currently the most frequent and the most economically damaging disease on wheat worldwide. Five hundred and ten strains of this fungus were sampled from 16 geographical locations representing the major wheat producing areas in France. Multiplex PCR amplification, PCR–RFLP–SSCP screening and sequencing of parts of mating type encoding sequences were performed in order to assess the distribution and molecular polymorphism of the mating type idiomorphs. The two idiomorphs were scored at similar frequencies within all sampled locations. Both mating types were also identified at the leaf spatial scale, on 42 % of leaves from which two or three strains were isolated. No correlation was found between distribution of mating types and either host cultivars from which the sampling was carried out or in vitro colony phenotypes observed during the culture of strains on potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium. PCR–RFLP–SSCP assay highlighted only one MAT1-1 strain exhibiting a profile distinct from all other MAT1-1 strains, whereas ten MAT1-2 strains (among which two and four with same profiles, respectively) showed profiles differing from the other MAT1-2 strains. Sequencing revealed that all polymorphisms corresponded to single nucleotide variations and all strains displaying the same single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) profiles showed identical nucleotide sequences, thereby confirming the high sensitivity of SSCP. Only two out of the disclosed nucleotide variations were nonsynonymous. This study strongly suggests a large potential for sexual reproduction in the French population of M. graminicola and reports a high conservation of mating type sequences in the fungus at both nucleotide and population levels, with a great difference in molecular variability between the two idiomorphs.