Digest: Plant-pathogen co-evolution extends to shifts in plant breeding systems.

Plants and their pathogens are in a co-evolutionary arms race. Some pathogens, such as anther smuts, use their host plants' pollinators for spore dispersal. In the plant Dianthus pavonius, gynodioecy (having female and hermaphroditic plants) has evolved to reduce flowering durationg and therefore limit exposure to anther smut pathogens. Bruns et al. (2018) show that this shift in breeding system has evolved as a disease escape mechanism. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.