Whole-genome DNA similarity and population structure of Plasmodiophora brassicae strains from Canada

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Why is it important?

This paper is the first to provide evidence of balancing selection in the clubroot pathogen, Plasmodiophora brassicae. Balancing selection maintains low levels of various genotypes within a population, and this may explain how new virulent pathotypes can develop so quickly on previously resistant canola cultivars. This paper also demonstrates that the genotypes of P. brassicae do not cluster according to pathotype or host, and geography only plays a small role in determining the clustering of genotypes.