Population genomics of Iranian wheat- and Aegilops-infecting Zymoseptoria tritici isolates

Host specialisation is considered a strong driver of pathogen evolution. In this project, we isolated unique collections of Z. tritici from wild (Aegilops spp.) and domesticated (Triticum aestivum) host grasses in the Middle East. Using a clone-corrected subset of isolates from each collection, we then performed whole-genome sequencing of each isolate with the aim to identify evolutionary and molecular patterns of host specialisation using population genomics approaches.