We report the draft genome sequence of Alternaria alternata ATCC 34957. This strain was previously reported to produce alternariol and alternariol monomethyl ether on weathered grain sorghum. The genome was sequenced with PacBio technology and assembled into 27 scaffolds with a total genome size of 33.5 Mb. Copyright © 2016 Nguyen et al.
Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae is the etiological agent of bacterial rice blight. Three distinct clades of X. oryzae pv. oryzae are known. We present the complete annotated genome of the African clade strain AXO194 using long-read single-molecule PacBio sequencing technology. The genome comprises a single chromosome of 4,674,975 bp and encodes for nine transcriptional activator-like (TAL) effectors. The approach and data presented in this announcement provide information for complex bacterial genome organization and the discovery of new virulence effectors, and they facilitate target characterization of TAL effectors. Copyright © 2016 Huguet-Tapia et al.
Sclerotinia homoeocarpa (F. T. Bennett) is one of the most economically important pathogens on high-amenity cool-season turfgrasses, where it causes dollar spot. To understand the genetic mechanisms of fungicide resistance, which has become highly prevalent, the whole genomes of two isolates with varied resistance levels to fungicides were sequenced. Copyright © 2016 Green et al.
Ammonia oxidation is the first and rate-limiting step in nitrification and is dominated by two distinct groups of microorganisms in soil: ammonia-oxidising archaea (AOA) and bacteria (AOB). AOA are often more abundant than AOB, and dominate activity in acid soils. The mechanism of ammonia oxidation in acidic conditions has been a long-standing paradox. While high rates of ammonia oxidation are frequently measured in acid soils, cultivated ammonia oxidisers only grew at near-neutral pH when grown in standard laboratory culture. Although a number of mechanisms have been demonstrated to enable neutrophilic AOB growth at low pH in the laboratory, these have not been demonstrated in soil, and the recent cultivation of the obligately acidophilic ammonia oxidiser ‘Candidatus Nitrosotalea devanaterra’ provides a more parsimonious explanation for the observed high rates of activity. Analysis of the sequenced genome, transcriptional activity and lipid content of ‘Ca. N. devanaterra’ reveals that previously proposed mechanisms used by AOB for growth at low pH are not essential for archaeal ammonia oxidation in acidic environments. Instead, the genome indicates that ‘Ca. N. devanaterra’ contains genes encoding both a predicted high-affinity substrate acquisition system and potential pH homeostasis mechanisms absent in neutrophilic AOA. Analysis of mRNA revealed that candidate genes encoding for the proposed homeostasis mechanisms were all expressed during acidophilic growth, and lipid profiling by HPLC-MS demonstrated that the membrane lipids of ‘Ca. N. devanaterra’ were not dominated by crenarchaeol, as found in neutrophilic AOA. This study describes the first genome of an obligately acidophilic ammonia oxidiser and identifies potential mechanisms enabling this unique phenotype for future biochemical characterisation. Copyright © 2016 Lehtovirta-Morley et al.
Pantoea ananatis is a group of bacteria, which was first reported as plant pathogen. Recently, several papers also described its biocontrol ability. In 2003, P. ananatis R100, which showed strong antagonism against several plant pathogens, was isolated from rice seeds. In this study, whole genome sequence of this strain was determined by SMRT Cell technology. The total genome size of R100 is 4,857,861bp with 4659 coding genes (CDS), 82 tRNAs and 22 rRNAs. The genome sequence of R100 may shed a light on the research of antagonism P. ananatis. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Abstract Colletotrichum acutatum is a destructive fungal pathogen which causes anthracnose in a wide range of crops. Here we report the whole genome sequence and annotation of C. acutatum strain KC05, isolated from an infected pepper in Kangwon, South Korea. Genomic DNA from the KC05 strain was used for the whole genome sequencing using a PacBio sequencer and the MiSeq system. The KC05 genome was determined to be 52,190,760 bp in size with a G + C content of 51.73% in 27 scaffolds and to contain 13,559 genes with an average length of 1516 bp. Gene prediction and annotation were performed by incorporating RNA-Seq data. The genome sequence of the KC05 was deposited at DDBJ/ENA/GenBank under the accession number LUXP00000000.
Modern industrial agriculture depends on high-density cultivation of genetically similar crop plants, creating favorable conditions for the emergence of novel pathogens with increased fitness in managed compared with ecologically intact settings. Here, we present the genome sequence of six strains of the cucurbit bacterial wilt pathogen Erwinia tracheiphila (Enterobacteriaceae) isolated from infected squash plants in New York, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Michigan. These genomes exhibit a high proportion of recent horizontal gene acquisitions, invasion and remarkable amplification of mobile genetic elements, and pseudogenization of approximately 20% of the coding sequences. These genome attributes indicate that E. tracheiphila recently emerged as a host-restricted pathogen. Furthermore, chromosomal rearrangements associated with phage and transposable element proliferation contribute to substantial differences in gene content and genetic architecture between the six E. tracheiphila strains and other Erwinia species. Together, these data lead us to hypothesize that E. tracheiphila has undergone recent evolution through both genome decay (pseudogenization) and genome expansion (horizontal gene transfer and mobile element amplification). Despite evidence of dramatic genomic changes, the six strains are genetically monomorphic, suggesting a recent population bottleneck and emergence into E. tracheiphila’s current ecological niche. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.
Pseudomonas syringae pv. lapsa is a pathovar of Pseudomonas syringae that can infect wheat. The complete genome of P. syringae pv. lapsa strain ATCC 10859 contains a 5,918,899-bp circular chromosome with 4,973 coding sequences, 16 rRNAs, 69 tRNAs, and an average GC content of 59.13%. The analysis of this genome revealed several gene clusters that are related to pathogenesis and virulence. Copyright © 2016 Kong et al.
Pseudomonas azotoformans is a Gram-negative bacterium and infects cereal grains, especially rice. P. azotoformans S4 from soil sample derived from Lijiang, Yunnan Province, China, appeared to be strong inhibitory activity against Fusarium fujikurio, a serious rice fungal pathogen. Here, we present the complete genome of P. azotoformans S4, which consists of 6,859,618bp with a circle chromosome, 5991 coding DNA sequences, 70 tRNA and 19 rRNA. The genomic analysis revealed that 9 candidate gene clusters are involved in the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V.
Asian soybean rust (ASR), caused by the fungus Phakopsora pachyrhizi, is one of the most economically important crop diseases, but is only treatable with fungicides, which are becoming less effective owing to the emergence of fungicide resistance. There are no commercial soybean cultivars with durable resistance to P. pachyrhizi, and although soybean resistance loci have been mapped, no resistance genes have been cloned. We report the cloning of a P. pachyrhizi resistance gene CcRpp1 (Cajanus cajan Resistance against Phakopsora pachyrhizi 1) from pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan) and show that CcRpp1 confers full resistance to P. pachyrhizi in soybean. Our findings show that legume species related to soybean such as pigeonpea, cowpea, common bean and others could provide a valuable and diverse pool of resistance traits for crop improvement.
Ustilaginoidea virens is a rice pathogenic fungus that causes false smut disease, a disease that seriously damages the yield and quality of the grain. Analysis of the U. virens IPU010 33.6-Mb genome sequence will aid in the understanding of the pathogenicity of the strain, particularly in regard to effector proteins and secondary metabolic genes. Copyright © 2016 Kumagai et al.
Penicillium species cause postharvest decay, commonly known as blue mold, in pome fruits, such as apples and pears. To devise novel strategies to prevent and reduce economic losses during storage, the genome sequence of Penicillium solitum RS1 is reported here for the first time. Copyright © 2016 Yu et al.
The recent breakthroughs in assembling long error-prone reads were based on the overlap-layout-consensus (OLC) approach and did not utilize the strengths of the alternative de Bruijn graph approach to genome assembly. Moreover, these studies often assume that applications of the de Bruijn graph approach are limited to short and accurate reads and that the OLC approach is the only practical paradigm for assembling long error-prone reads. We show how to generalize de Bruijn graphs for assembling long error-prone reads and describe the ABruijn assembler, which combines the de Bruijn graph and the OLC approaches and results in accurate genome reconstructions.
The smut fungi form a large, diverse, and non-monophyletic group of plant pathogens that have long served as both important pests of human agriculture but also as fertile organisms of scientific investigation. As modern techniques of molecular genetic analysis became available, many previously-studied species that proved refractive to these techniques fell by the wayside to become neglected. Now, as the advent of rapid and affordable next-generation sequencing provides genomic and transcriptomic resources for even these “forgotten” fungi, several species are making a come-back and retaking prominent places in phytopathogenic research. In this review, we highlight several of these smut fungi, with special emphasis on Microbotryum lychnidis-dioicae, an anther smut, whose molecular genetic tools have finally begun to catch up with its historical importance in classical genetics and now provide mechanistic insights for ecological studies, evolution of host/pathogen interaction, and investigations of emerging infectious disease.
Crops are made resistant to pathogens such as wheat stem rust, Asian soybean rust and potato late blight by methods to access the pool of resistance genes present in related plants.
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