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Population structure and natural selection in the Chalara ash dieback fungus,

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 Hymenoscyphus pseudoalbidus

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Led by Professor James Brown, John Innes Centre

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Ash dieback (ADB), a devastating disease responsible for destroying vast numbers of ash trees in continental Europe and Scandinavia, is on the move. Caused by the fungus Hymenoscyphus pseudoalbidus, the disease was first identified in the UK in 2012 and has since been found at hundreds of sites throughout Britain and Ireland. It is likely that resistance to ash dieback will evolve in the UK ash population over time through natural selection. This poses an important challenge for forest scientists: to accelerate this process so that the UK’s ash population can recover much more rapidly.

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4. Comparative variation in Hymenoscyphus albidus. Hymenoscyphus albidus (Ha) has been known on ash in the UK since the 19th century but is not regarded as a pathogen. Hymenoscyphus albidus and H. pseudoalbidus are distinct but sufficiently closely related that they might interact by exchanging genes or parasites. We will investigate the ecological and genetic relationship between Hp and Ha to discover what potential there is for deleterious dsRNA species to be transferred between the two Hymenoscyphus species that would contribute to long-term inhibition of H. pseudoalbidus and thus to control of Chalara ash dieback.

Further Information

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