Dataset Information

Obligate biotrophy features unraveled by the genomic analysis of rust fungi.

ABSTRACT: Rust fungi are some of the most devastating pathogens of crop plants. They are obligate biotrophs, which extract nutrients only from living plant tissues and cannot grow apart from their hosts. Their lifestyle has slowed the dissection of molecular mechanisms underlying host invasion and avoidance or suppression of plant innate immunity. We sequenced the 101-Mb genome of Melampsora larici-populina, the causal agent of poplar leaf rust, and the 89-Mb genome of Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici, the causal agent of wheat and barley stem rust. We then compared the 16,399 predicted proteins of M. larici-populina with the 17,773 predicted proteins of P. graminis f. sp tritici. Genomic features related to their obligate biotrophic lifestyle include expanded lineage-specific gene families, a large repertoire of effector-like small secreted proteins, impaired nitrogen and sulfur assimilation pathways, and expanded families of amino acid and oligopeptide membrane transporters. The dramatic up-regulation of transcripts coding for small secreted proteins, secreted hydrolytic enzymes, and transporters in planta suggests that they play a role in host infection and nutrient acquisition. Some of these genomic hallmarks are mirrored in the genomes of other microbial eukaryotes that have independently evolved to infect plants, indicating convergent adaptation to a biotrophic existence inside plant cells.

SUBMITTER: Duplessis S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3107277 | biostudies-literature | 2011 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Obligate biotrophy features unraveled by the genomic analysis of rust fungi.

Duplessis Sébastien S Cuomo Christina A CA Lin Yao-Cheng YC Aerts Andrea A Tisserant Emilie E Veneault-Fourrey Claire C Joly David L DL Hacquard Stéphane S Amselem Joëlle J Cantarel Brandi L BL Chiu Readman R Coutinho Pedro M PM Feau Nicolas N Field Matthew M Frey Pascal P Gelhaye Eric E Goldberg Jonathan J Grabherr Manfred G MG Kodira Chinnappa D CD Kohler Annegret A Kües Ursula U Lindquist Erika A EA Lucas Susan M SM Mago Rohit R Mauceli Evan E Morin Emmanuelle E Murat Claude C Pangilinan Jasmyn L JL Park Robert R Pearson Matthew M Quesneville Hadi H Rouhier Nicolas N Sakthikumar Sharadha S Salamov Asaf A AA Schmutz Jeremy J Selles Benjamin B Shapiro Harris H Tanguay Philippe P Tuskan Gerald A GA Henrissat Bernard B Van de Peer Yves Y Rouzé Pierre P Ellis Jeffrey G JG Dodds Peter N PN Schein Jacqueline E JE Zhong Shaobin S Hamelin Richard C RC Grigoriev Igor V IV Szabo Les J LJ Martin Francis F

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20110502 22

Rust fungi are some of the most devastating pathogens of crop plants. They are obligate biotrophs, which extract nutrients only from living plant tissues and cannot grow apart from their hosts. Their lifestyle has slowed the dissection of molecular mechanisms underlying host invasion and avoidance or suppression of plant innate immunity. We sequenced the 101-Mb genome of Melampsora larici-populina, the causal agent of poplar leaf rust, and the 89-Mb genome of Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici, th ...[more]

PMID: 21536894

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Project description:Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are a diverse group of soil fungi (Glomeromycota) that form the most ancient mutualistic association termed AM symbiosis with a majority of land plants, improving their nutrition uptake and resistance to stresses. In contrast to their great ecological implications, the knowledge of the molecular biological mechanisms involved is still scant, partly due to the limited genomic resources available. Here, we describe the gene repertoire of a new AM fungus Gigaspora rosea (Diversisporales). Among the 86332 non-redundant virtual transcripts assembled, 15346 presented similarities with proteins in the Refseq database and 10175 were assigned with GO terms. KOG and Interpro domain annotations clearly showed an enrichment of genes involved in signal transduction in G. rosea. KEGG pathway analysis indicates that most primary metabolic processes are active in G. rosea. However, as for Rhizophagus irregularis, several metabolic genes were not found, including the fatty acid synthase (FAS) gene. This finding supports the hypothesis that AM fungi depend on the lipids produced by their hosts. Furthermore, the presence of a large number of transporters and 100s of secreted proteins, together with the reduced number of plant cell wall degrading enzymes could be interpreted as an evolutionary adaptation to its mutualistic obligate biotrophy. The detection of meiosis-related genes suggests that G. rosea might use a cryptic sexual process. Lastly, a phylogeny of basal fungi clearly shows Glomeromycota as a sister clade to Mucoromycotina, not only to the Mucorales or Mortierellales. The characterization of the gene repertoire from an AM fungal species belonging to the order of Diversisporales and its comparison with the gene sets of R. irregularis (Glomerales) and Gigaspora margarita (Diversisporales), reveal that AM fungi share several features linked to mutualistic obligate biotrophy. This work contributes to lay the foundation for forthcoming studies into the genomics of Diversisporales, and also illuminates the utility of comparing gene repertoires of species from Diversisporales and other clades of Glomeromycota to gain more insights into the genetics and evolution of this fungal group.

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Obligate biotrophy features unraveled by the genomic analysis of rust fungi.

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Obligate biotrophy features unraveled by the genomic analysis of rust fungi.

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