Rice blast, caused by Magnaporthe oryzae, is one of the emergent threats to rice production in East Africa (EA), where little is known about the population genetics and pathogenicity of this pathogen. We investigated the genetic diversity and mating type (MAT) distribution of 88 isolates of M. oryzae from EA and representative isolates from West Africa (WA) and the Philippines (Asia) using amplified fragment length polymorphism markers and mating-type-specific primer sets. In addition, the aggressiveness of each isolate was evaluated by inoculating on the susceptible Oryza sativa indica 'Co39', scoring the disease severity and calculating the disease progress. Hierarchical analysis of molecular variance revealed a low level of genetic differentiation at two levels (FST 0.12 and FCT 0.11). No evidence of population structure was found among the 65 isolates from EA, and gene flow among EA populations was high. Moreover, pairwise population differentiation (GST) in EA populations ranged from 0.03 to 0.04, suggesting that >96% of genetic variation is derived from within populations. However, the populations from Asia and WA were moderately differentiated from EA ones. The spatial analysis of principal coordinates and STRUCTURE revealed overlapping between individual M. oryzae isolates from EA, with limited distinctness according to the geographic origin. All the populations were clonal, given the positive and significant index of association (IA) and standardized index of association (rd), which indicates a significant (P<0.001) departure from panmixia (IA and rd=0). Both MAT1-1 and MAT1-2 were detected. However, MAT1-1 was more prevalent than MAT1-2. Pathogenicity analysis revealed variability in aggressiveness, suggesting a potential existence of different races. Our data suggest that either M. oryzae populations from EA could be distributed as a single genetic population or gene flow is exerting a significant influence, effectively swamping the action of selection. This is the first study of genetic differentiation of rice-infecting M. oryzae strains from EA, and may guide further studies on the pathogen as well as resistance breeding efforts.
Keywords: AFLP.