[caption id="attachment_21000" align="alignright" width="300"] Photo of Armillaria gallica by Roberto Petruzzo[/caption] They are colonizers and killers, growing as large as 2,400 acres, leaving devastation in their wake. Armillaria fungi are the cause of root rot disease in forests, fields, parks, and vineyards in more than 500 host plant species across the world. But despite this huge impact on agriculture, the pathogenicity of Armillaria species has been poorly understood. A new international study led by Hungarian researchers, published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, reveals novel insights into how the fungus spreads and kills. Lead author György Sipos of the University of Sopron, senior author László…
[caption id="attachment_18819" align="alignleft" width="300"] Image from Alan Rockefeller[/caption] A recent paper in the journal Angewandte Chemie describes using SMRT Sequencing to characterize biosynthesis of a psychotropic product in Psilocybe carpophores, better known as magic mushrooms. Scientists from the Hans Knöll Institute in Germany report that the work could pave the way to synthetic production for pharmaceutical use. “Enzymatic Synthesis of Psilocybin” comes from Janis Fricke, Felix Blei, and Dirk Hoffmeister. The team aimed to uncover the enzymatic mechanisms of biosynthesis for psilocybin, culminating in the characterization of four related enzymes: PsiD, PsiK, PsiM, and PsiH. “In a combined PsiD/PsiK/PsiM reaction, psilocybin…
[caption id="attachment_17356" align="alignright" width="300"] Candida glabrata[/caption] In a preprint available from bioRxiv, scientists from the University of Lausanne and Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics present the first SMRT Sequencing results from isolates of the fungal pathogen Candida glabrata. “Comparative Genomics Of Two Sequential Candida glabrata Clinical Isolates” comes from Luis Andre Vale-Silva, Emmanuel Beaudoing, Van Du T. Tran, and Dominique Sanglard. The study involved two C. glabrata samples collected at different times from an HIV-positive patient diagnosed with oropharyngeal candidiasis. Scientists initially turned to short-read sequencing to analyze the genomes, which were of particular interest because C. glabrata is known to rapidly develop resistance to antifungal therapies. However, because…
The Joint Genome Institute recently announced results from a project that used SMRT Sequencing to generate high-quality genome assemblies and detect epigenetic modifications for fungal species that represent the earliest branches of that kingdom’s phylogeny. The work was done as part of the 1000 Fungal Genomes Project, which aims to better characterize a diverse range of fungal species. Published in Nature Genetics, “Widespread adenine N6-methylation of active genes in fungi” comes from lead author Stephen Mondo, senior author Igor Grigoriev, and collaborators at JGI and other institutions. The major finding is that N6-methyldeoxyadenine (6mA) is seen at the earliest stages…
A new publication from scientists at the University of California, Davis, and the USDA Agricultural Research Service presents important findings about a fungus that threatens global grape production. As part of the project, the team used SMRT Sequencing to generate a new assembly of the fungal genome, resulting in a more complete assembly than a previous short-read attempt. “Condition-dependent co-regulation of genomic clusters of virulence factors in the grapevine trunk pathogen Neofusicoccum parvum,” published in Molecular Plant Pathology, comes from lead author Mélanie Massonnet, senior author Dario Cantu, and collaborators. The team was eager to determine why the wood-infecting Neofusicoccum…