Heteroplasmy for the Cytochrome b Gene in Podosphaera xanthii and its Role in Resistance to QoI Fungicides in Spain.

In Spain, management of the cucurbit powdery mildew pathogen Podosphaera xanthii is strongly dependent on chemicals such as quinone outside inhibitor (QoI) fungicides. In a previous report, widespread resistance to QoI fungicides in populations of P. xanthii in south-central Spain was documented, but the molecular mechanisms of resistance remained unclear. In this work, the role of the Rieske-FeS (risp) and the cytochrome b (cytb) gene mutations in QoI resistance of P. xanthii were examined. No point mutations in the risp gene were found in the three QoI-resistant isolates analyzed. For cytb, sequence analysis revealed the presence of a G143A substitution that occurs in many QoI-resistant fungi. This mutation was always detected in QoI-resistant isolates of P. xanthii; however, it was also detected in sensitive isolates. To better understand the role of heteroplasmy for cytb in QoI resistance of P. xanthii, an allele-specific quantitative PCR was developed to quantify the relative abundance of the G143 (sensitive) and A143 (resistant) alleles. High relative abundance of A143 allele (70%) was associated with isolates resistant to QoI fungicides; however, QoI-sensitive isolates also carried the mutated allele in frequencies ranged from 10 to 60%. Our data suggest that G143A mutation in cytb is the primary factor involved in QoI resistance of P. xanthii but the proportion of G143 and A143 alleles in an isolate may determine its QoI resistance level.