Genome-wide population diversity in Hymenoscyphus fraxineus points to an eastern Russian origin of European Ash dieback.

Abstract

European forests are experiencing extensive invasion from the Ash pathogen Hymenoscyphus fraxineus, an ecological niche competitor to the non-pathogenic native congener H. albidus. We report the genome-wide diversity and population structure in Asia (native) and Europe (the introduced range). We show H. fraxineus underwent a dramatic bottleneck upon introduction to Europe around 30-40 generations ago, leaving a genomic signature, characterized by long segments of fixation, interspersed with \"diversity islands\" that are identical throughout Europe. This means no effective secondary contact with other populations has occurred. Genome-wide variation is consistently high within sampled locations in Japan and the Russian Far East, and lack of differentiation amongst Russian locations suggests extensive gene flow, similar to Europe. A local ancestry analysis supports Russia as a more likely source population than Japan. Negligible latency, rapid host-range expansion and viability of small founding populations specify strong biosecurity forewarnings against new introductions from outside Europe.