Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Jul 29;11(8):858.
doi: 10.3390/pathogens11080858.

Characterization of Host-Specific Genes from Pine- and Grass-Associated Species of the Fusarium fujikuroi Species Complex

Claudette Dewing  1 , Magrieta A Van der Nest  1   2 , Quentin C Santana  1 , Robert H Proctor  3 , Brenda D Wingfield  1 , Emma T Steenkamp  1 , Lieschen De Vos  1
Affiliations

Characterization of Host-Specific Genes from Pine- and Grass-Associated Species of the Fusarium fujikuroi Species Complex

Claudette Dewing et al. Pathogens. .

Abstract

The Fusarium fujikuroi species complex (FFSC) includes socioeconomically important pathogens that cause disease for numerous crops and synthesize a variety of secondary metabolites that can contaminate feedstocks and food. Here, we used comparative genomics to elucidate processes underlying the ability of pine-associated and grass-associated FFSC species to colonize tissues of their respective plant hosts. We characterized the identity, possible functions, evolutionary origins, and chromosomal positions of the host-range-associated genes encoded by the two groups of fungi. The 72 and 47 genes identified as unique to the respective genome groups were potentially involved in diverse processes, ranging from transcription, regulation, and substrate transport through to virulence/pathogenicity. Most genes arose early during the evolution of Fusarium/FFSC and were only subsequently retained in some lineages, while some had origins outside Fusarium. Although differences in the densities of these genes were especially noticeable on the conditionally dispensable chromosome of F. temperatum (representing the grass-associates) and F. circinatum (representing the pine-associates), the host-range-associated genes tended to be located towards the subtelomeric regions of chromosomes. Taken together, these results demonstrate that multiple mechanisms drive the emergence of genes in the grass- and pine-associated FFSC taxa examined. It also highlighted the diversity of the molecular processes potentially underlying niche-specificity in these and other Fusarium species.

Keywords: Fusarium circinatum; Fusarium fujikuroi species complex; Fusarium temperatum; comparative genomics; horizontal gene transfer; host-specificity; pitch canker; subtelomeres.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The distribution of host-range-associated genes from pine-host-associated Fusarium species and conservation of synteny across and among chromosomes and genomes. Distribution of pine-associated genes across each of the chromosomes are indicated by vertical blue lines. The conservation of synteny and inversion between the relevant genomes are indicated in the brown blocks and red lines. FCIR = F. circinatum; chromosome size is given in Kb.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The distribution of host-range-associated genes from Poaceae-host-associated Fusarium species and conservation of synteny across and between chromosomes and genomes. Poaceae-associated genes distribution across each of the chromosomes as indicated by the blue lines. The conservation of synteny and inversion between the relevant genomes is indicated in the brown blocks and red lines. FTEMP = F. temperatum; chromosome size is given in Kb.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Examples of clusters of host-range-associated genes on Chromosome 6 of F. circinatum (A) and Chromosome 10 of F. temperatum (B). Numbers within the block arrows indicate gene identities. Bold letters above the green and orange genes indicate ancestral origin group as described in Table 2.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Data retrieved from the Shapiro–Wilk’s test for departure from normality for host-range-associated genes in F. circinatum and F. temperatum. Grey blocks represent the host-range-associated gene, whereas the blue blocks represent the genes downstream and upstream of the host-range-associated gene.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Geiser D.M., Aoki T., Bacon C.W., Baker S.E., Bhattacharyya M.K., Brandt M.E., Brown D.W., Burgess L.W., Chulze S., Coleman J.J., et al. One fungus, one name: Defining the genus Fusarium in a scientifically robust way that preserves longstanding use. Phytopathology. 2013;103:400–408. doi: 10.1094/PHYTO-07-12-0150-LE. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Geiser D.M., Al-Hatmi A.M., Aoki T., Arie T., Balmas V., Barnes I., Bergstrom G.C., Bhattacharyya M.K., Blomquist C.L., Bowden R.L. Phylogenomic analysis of a 55.1-kb 19-gene dataset resolves a monophyletic Fusarium that includes the Fusarium solani species complex. Phytopathology. 2021;111:1064–1079. doi: 10.1094/PHYTO-08-20-0330-LE. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Chang D.C., Grant G.B., O’Donnell K., Wannemuehler K.A., Noble-Wang J., Rao C.Y., Jacobson L.M., Crowell C.S., Sneed R.S., Lewil F.M.T., et al. Multistate outbreak of Fusarium keratitis associated with use of a contact lens solution. Am. J. Ophthalmol. 2006;142:896–897. doi: 10.1016/j.ajo.2006.09.010. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Sutton D.A., Brandt M.E. In: Fusarium and Other Opportunistic Hyaline Fungi. 10th ed. Versalovic J., Carroll K.C., Funke G., Jorgenson J.H., Landry M.L., Warnock D.W., editors. ASM Press; Washington, DC, USA: 2011.
    1. O’Donnell K., Sutton D.A., Rinaldi M.G., Magnon K.C., Cox P.A., Revankar S.G., Sanche S., Geiser D.M., Juba J.H., Van Burik J.-A.H. Genetic diversity of human pathogenic members of the Fusarium oxysporum complex inferred from multilocus DNA sequence data and amplified fragment length polymorphism analyses: Evidence for the recent dispersion of a geographically widespread clonal lineage and nosocomial origin. J. Clin. Microbiol. 2004;42:5109–5120. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources