Interplay between differential competition and actions of spore-vectors explain host exclusivity of saprobic fungi in Pr
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Interplay between differential competition and actions of spore-vectors explain host exclusivity of saprobic fungi in Protea flowers Vuledzani O. Mukwevho . Le´anne L. Dreyer . Francois Roets
Received: 27 May 2020 / Accepted: 21 October 2020 / Published online: 22 November 2020 Ó Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Abstract Protea flowers host saprobic Knoxdaviesia and Sporothrix fungi that are dispersed by pollinating insects and birds. Different Protea species contain sympatric populations of different fungal species. For example, P. repens host S. splendens and K. proteae, while P. neriifolia host K. capensis and S. phasma. Even though all fungi can grow vigorously on alternative hosts and they share the same spore vector species, they rarely colonise alternative hosts. We investigated the role of fungal differential competitive abilities on their usual and alternative hosts to explain their host exclusivity. In a de Wit replacement series experiment, S. splendens outcompeted and later overgrew all other fungi on media prepared from its usual and alternative hosts. Host exclusivity of S. splendens on P. repens may therefore be maintained by restricted movement of spore vectors rather than weaker competitive abilities on alternative hosts. On their preferred hosts, S. splendens and S. phasma rapidly overgrew Knoxdavesia species with which they do not usually share a
host, explaining host exclusivity of the Knoxdavesia species. Knoxdaviesia proteae likely only persist on P. repens with sympatric S. splendens if it colonizes flowers earlier, in a different area, or completes its life cycle before being overgrown. On their usual P. neriifolia host, K. capensis and S. phasma had neutralistic interactions and S. phasma could not overgrow K. capensis, explaining their co-existence. Host exclusivity of saprobic Protea-associated Knoxdaviesia and Sporothrix may therefore be maintained by both the activities of spore vectors and differential competitive abilities on different hosts, but the influence of other competing microbes and micro-niche differentiation cannot be excluded. Keywords Fungal diversity Inter-species competition Knoxdaviesia Spore-vector Sporothrix
Introduction V. O. Mukwevho F. Roets (&) Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology, Stellenbosch University, Private Bag X1, Stellenbosch 7600, South Africa e-mail: [email protected] L. L. Dreyer Department of Botany and Zoology, Stellenbosch University, Private Bag X1, Stellenbosch 7600, South Africa
Host specificity of pathogenic fungi may be enforced by closely co-evolved molecular recognition and detoxification systems that are often unique per interacting pair of host and fungus (Baldwin et al. 2006; Idnurm and Howlett 2001; Walton 1996, 2006; Zhao et al. 2013). This maintains boundaries between pathogenic fungal colonizers and can lead to
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speciation and subsequent increased regional biodiversity (Burdon and Silk 1997; McDermott and McDonald 1993). However, numerous saprobic fungal species also show strong pref
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