A pleasant journey through the population genetics of fungal plant pathogens
Populations of fungal plant pathogens contain enormous reservoirs of genetic diversity that enable rapid evolution when placed under strong directional selection. Population genetic and genomic studies oriented around well defined, naturally infected fields provided many insights into the processes driving pathogen evolution. I’ll provide some highly condensed highlights of my professional journey through the population genetics for fungal pathogens, starting with my PhD training at UC Davis, proceeding with the phylogeographical studies initiated at Texas A&M University and completed at ETH Zurich, and ending with the onset of the genomics era for the wheat pathogens Zymoseptoria tritici and Parastagonospora nodorum and the barley pathogen Rhynchosporium commune. The talk will be populated with anecdotes and entertaining photos including only a small fraction of the many wonderful people I was fortunate to meet and work with on this pleasant scientific journey.