Comparative genomics reveals mobile pathogenicity chromosomes in Fusarium - INRAE - Institut national de recherche pour l’agriculture, l’alimentation et l’environnement
Journal Articles Nature Year : 2010

Comparative genomics reveals mobile pathogenicity chromosomes in Fusarium

Li-Jun Ma
John Antoniw
  • Function : Author
Liane R. Gale
  • Function : Author
ARS
Karen Hilburn
  • Function : Author
ARS
Aviv Regev
Olen Yoder
  • Function : Author
Sarah Young
James Galagan
H. Corby Kistler
ARS
Martijn Rep

Abstract

Fusarium species are among the most important phytopathogenic and toxigenic fungi. To understand the molecular underpinnings of pathogenicity in the genus Fusarium, we compared the genomes of three phenotypically diverse species: Fusarium graminearum, Fusarium verticillioides and Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici. Our analysis revealed lineage-specific (LS) genomic regions in F. oxysporum that include four entire chromosomes and account for more than one-quarter of the genome. LS regions are rich in transposons and genes with distinct evolutionary profiles but related to pathogenicity, indicative of horizontal acquisition. Experimentally, we demonstrate the transfer of two LS chromosomes between strains of F. oxysporum, converting a non-pathogenic strain into a pathogen. Transfer of LS chromosomes between otherwise genetically isolated strains explains the polyphyletic origin of host specificity and the emergence of new pathogenic lineages in F. oxysporum. These findings put the evolution of fungal pathogenicity into a new perspective

Dates and versions

hal-02662964 , version 1 (31-05-2020)

Identifiers

Cite

Li-Jun Ma, Charlotte van Der Does, Katherine A. Borkovich, Jeffrey J. Coleman, Marie-José Daboussi, et al.. Comparative genomics reveals mobile pathogenicity chromosomes in Fusarium. Nature, 2010, 464 (7287), pp.367-373. ⟨10.1038/nature08850⟩. ⟨hal-02662964⟩
959 View
0 Download

Altmetric

Share

More