Stenlid, Jan*. Dispersal, pathogenicity and speciation of wood decay fungi. From population genetics to genomics. In: International Meeting on "Population and Evolutionary Biology of Fungal Symbionts", Ascona, Switzerland, 2007. AB-44. Click here to download the presentation on pdf format.

Wood decay fungi can grow within their substrate unit or spread between units in soil by growth of mycelia e.g. rhizomorphs. Between populations they are dispersed by wind, or vectored by insects, or man. In common species, very little genetic differentiation is present on regional scales, while in rare decay fungi local differentiation has been detected. This structuring is probably a reflection of uncommon events of long distance dispersal and frequent events of local dispersal, which also can be seen from direct spore catches. The effect of small population size on inbreeding and fitness is studied.  Along with the increasing number of sequenced fungal genomes, new possibilities for interspecific comparisons are opened, including studies of evolutionary relationships. One exciting area is to look for genes under positive, negative or neutral selection e.g. comparing genes involved in pathogenicity or recognition with house keeping genes.

Keywords: Dispersal, population genetics, selection, evolution, genomics

*Institution: Forest Mycology and Pathology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Email: Jan.stenlid@mykopat.slu.se