title: Natural selection causes adaptive genetic resistance in wild emmer wheat against powdery mildew at "Evolution Canyon" microsite, Mt. Carmel, Israel.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  "Evolution Canyon" (ECI) at Lower Nahal Oren, Mount Carmel, Israel, is an optimal natural microscale model for unraveling evolution in action highlighting the basic evolutionary processes of adaptation and speciation. A major model organism in ECI is wild emmer, Triticum dicoccoides, the progenitor of cultivated wheat, which displays dramatic interslope adaptive and speciational divergence on the tropical-xeric "African" slope (AS) and the temperate-mesic "European" slope (ES), separated on average by 250 m.
  
  
  METHODS
  We examined 278 single sequence repeats (SSRs) and the phenotype diversity of the resistance to powdery mildew between the opposite slopes. Furthermore, 18 phenotypes on the AS and 20 phenotypes on the ES, were inoculated by both Bgt E09 and a mixture of powdery mildew races.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the experiment of genetic diversity, very little polymorphism was identified intra-slope in the accessions from both the AS or ES. By contrast, 148 pairs of SSR primers (53.23%) amplified polymorphic products between the phenotypes of AS and ES. There are some differences between the two wild emmer wheat genomes and the inter-slope SSR polymorphic products between genome A and B. Interestingly, all wild emmer types growing on the south-facing slope (SFS=AS) were susceptible to a composite of Blumeria graminis, while the ones growing on the north-facing slope (NFS=ES) were highly resistant to Blumeria graminis at both seedling and adult stages.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Remarkable inter-slope evolutionary divergent processes occur in wild emmer wheat, T. dicoccoides at EC I, despite the shot average distance of 250 meters. The AS, a dry and hot slope, did not develop resistance to powdery mildew, whereas the ES, a cool and humid slope, did develop resistance since the disease stress was strong there. This is a remarkable demonstration in host-pathogen interaction on how resistance develops when stress causes an adaptive result at a micro-scale distance.
authors: State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, Shandong Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, College of Agronomy, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, 271018, China.
authors: Huayan
authors: H
authors: Yin
authors: Sapir Academic College, Projects and Physics Section, D.N. Hof Ashkelon, 79165, Israel.
authors: Yuval
authors: Y
authors: Ben-Abu
authors: State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, Shandong Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, College of Agronomy, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, 271018, China.
authors: Hongwei
authors: H
authors: Wang
authors: State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, Shandong Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, College of Agronomy, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, 271018, China.
authors: Anfei
authors: A
authors: Li
authors: Institute of Evolution, University of Haifa, 199 Aba Khoushy Ave., Mount Carmel, Haifa, 3498838, Israel.
authors: Eviatar
authors: E
authors: Nevo
authors: State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, Shandong Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, College of Agronomy, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, 271018, China.
authors: Lingrang
authors: L
authors: Kong
mesh_terms: D000220:Adaptation, Biological / Q000235:genetics*; D001203:Ascomycota; D002980:Climate; D060467:Disease Resistance / Q000235:genetics*; D005843:Geography; D007557:Israel; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D012641:Selection, Genetic; D013472:Sunlight; D014908:Triticum / Q000235:genetics*