Genomic rearrangements generate hypervariable mini-chromosomes in host-specific isolates of the blast fungus

Langner, Thorsten, Harant, Adeline, Gomez-Luciano, Luis B., Shrestha, Ram K., Malmgren, Angus, Latorre, Sergio M., Burbano, Hernán A., Win, Joe and Kamoun, Sophien ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0290-0315 (2021) Genomic rearrangements generate hypervariable mini-chromosomes in host-specific isolates of the blast fungus. PLoS Genetics, 17 (2). ISSN 1553-7404

[thumbnail of Published_Version]
Preview
PDF (Published_Version) - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.

Download (4MB) | Preview

Abstract

Supernumerary mini-chromosomes–a unique type of genomic structural variation–have been implicated in the emergence of virulence traits in plant pathogenic fungi. However, the mechanisms that facilitate the emergence and maintenance of mini-chromosomes across fungi remain poorly understood. In the blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae (Syn. Pyricularia oryzae), mini-chromosomes have been first described in the early 1990s but, until very recently, have been overlooked in genomic studies. Here we investigated structural variation in four isolates of the blast fungus M. oryzae from different grass hosts and analyzed the sequences of mini-chromosomes in the rice, foxtail millet and goosegrass isolates. The mini-chromosomes of these isolates turned out to be highly diverse with distinct sequence composition. They are enriched in repetitive elements and have lower gene density than core-chromosomes. We identified several virulence-related genes in the mini-chromosome of the rice isolate, including the virulence-related polyketide synthase Ace1 and two variants of the effector gene AVR-Pik. Macrosynteny analyses around these loci revealed structural rearrangements, including inter-chromosomal translocations between core- and mini-chromosomes. Our findings provide evidence that mini-chromosomes emerge from structural rearrangements and segmental duplication of core-chromosomes and might contribute to adaptive evolution of the blast fungus.

Item Type: Article
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Science > The Sainsbury Laboratory
Faculty of Science > School of Biological Sciences
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Plant Sciences
Related URLs:
Depositing User: LivePure Connector
Date Deposited: 05 Mar 2021 00:44
Last Modified: 08 Mar 2024 10:31
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/79376
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1009386

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item