Project description:During the over 300 million years of co-evolution between herbivorous insects and their host plants, a dynamic equilibrium of evolutionary arms race has been established. However, the co-adaptation between insects and their host plants is a complex process, often driven by multiple evolutionary mechanisms. We found that various lepidopteran pests that use maize as a host exhibit differential adaptation to the plant secondary metabolites, benzoxazinoids (BXs). Notably, the Spodoptera genus, including Spodoptera frugiperda (fall armyworm) and Spodoptera litura (cotton leafworm), demonstrate greater tolerance to BXs compared to other insects. Through comparative transcriptomic analysis of the midgut, we identified four candidate genes potentially involved in BXs detoxification in S. frugiperda. Subsequently, we confirmed two UGT genes, Sfru33T10 and Sfru33F32, as key players in BXs detoxification using CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing technology. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that Sfru33T10 evolved independently within the Noctuidae family and is involved in the glycosylation of HDMBOA, while Sfru33F32 evolved independently within the Spodoptera genus and functions as a key detoxification enzyme responsible for the glycosylation of both DIMBOA and HMBOA. Our study demonstrates that the UGT gene family plays a crucial role in the adaptation of noctuid insects to maize, with multiple independent evolutionary events within the Noctuidae family and the Spodoptera genus contributing significantly to host adaptation.
Project description:The discovery of white-opaque switching in natural MTLa/alpha isolates of Candida albicans sheds new light on the evolution of phenotypic plasticity and host adaptation.
Project description:The discovery of white-opaque switching in natural MTLa/alpha isolates of Candida albicans sheds new light on the evolution of phenotypic plasticity and host adaptation. Comparing gene expression of white and opaque cells of a MTL a/alpha strain
Project description:Host-pathogen co-evolutionary dynamics force microbial plant pathogens to constantly develop and adjust specific adaptations to thrive in their plant host, and therefore also act as strong drivers of divergence and speciation in pathogens. Factors that confer host specialization and determine host specificity are very diverse and range from molecular and morphological strategies to metabolic and reproductive adaptations. Identification of these key factors is a major goal in the study of pathogen evolution and may aid the development of sustainable crops and crop protection strategies. We here took a novel experimental approach and conducted comparative microscopy and transcriptome analyses of the closely related, recently diverged fungal pathogens Zymoseptoria tritici, Z. pseudotritici, and Z. ardabiliae that establish compatible and incompatible interactions with wheat. Although infections of the incompatible species induce plant defense response during invasion of stomatal openings, we found a highly conserved early-infection program among the three species. The transcriptional programs of the three pathogens are conserved to a large extent, as only 9.2% of the 8,885 orthologous genes are significantly differentially expressed during initial infection of wheat. The genes up-regulated in the compatible pathogen reflect adaptation to growth in wheat tissue e.g., by re-programming of fungal metabolism. In contrast, genes primarily involved in counteracting cell stress and damage are strongly induced in the incompatible species. Based on the species-specific gene expression profiles, we further identified nine candidate genes encoding putative effectors and host-specificity determinants in Z. tritici. These effectors are strongly induced in the compatible species and may interfere with host immune suppression. We also identify putative necrotrophic effectors which are induced at the onset of necrotrophic growth. Together, the results presented here indicate that host specialization has involved transcriptional adaptation of a relatively small number of genes. Our findings demonstrate the potential comparative analyses of compatible and incompatible infections present for identifying traits involved in pathogen evolution and host specialization.
