Fitness costs of R-gene-mediated resistance in Arabidopsis thaliana

D. Tian, M. B. Traw, J. Q. Chen, M. Kreitman and J. Bergelson ()
Additional contact information
D. Tian: University of Chicago
M. B. Traw: University of Chicago
J. Q. Chen: Nanjing University
M. Kreitman: University of Chicago
J. Bergelson: University of Chicago

Nature, 2003, vol. 423, issue 6935, 74-77

Abstract: Abstract Resistance genes (R-genes) act as an immune system in plants by recognizing pathogens and inducing defensive pathways. Many R-gene loci are present in plant genomes, presumably reflecting the need to maintain a large repertoire of resistance alleles. These loci also often segregate for resistance and susceptibility alleles that natural selection has maintained as polymorphisms within a species for millions of years1,2,3,4,5. Given the obvious advantage to an individual of being disease resistant, what prevents these resistance alleles from being driven to fixation by natural selection? A cost of resistance6 is one potential explanation; most models require a lower fitness of resistant individuals in the absence of pathogens for long-term persistence of susceptibility alleles7. Here we test for the presence of a cost of resistance at the RPM1 locus of Arabidopsis thaliana. Results of a field experiment comparing the fitness of isogenic strains that differ in the presence or absence of RPM1 and its natural promoter reveal a large cost of RPM1, providing the first evidence that costs contribute to the maintenance of an ancient R-gene polymorphism.

Date: 2003
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DOI: 10.1038/nature01588

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