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Calendar Name: seminars
Scheduled for: Friday, October 26 2012, 14:00 - 15:30
Event text:    Prof Pierre JGM de Wit
	       
	       Laboratory of Phytopathology
	       Wageningen University
	       
	       Wageningen
	       THE NETHERLANDS
Details:       “The genomes of the related fungal pathogens
	       Cladosporium fulvum and Dothistroma septosporum reveal
	       adaptation to different hosts and lifestyles”
	       
	       ABSTRACT
	       We sequenced and compared the genomes of the
	       Dothideomycete fungal plant pathogens Cladosporium
	       fulvum (Cfu) (syn. Passalora fulva) and Dothistroma
	       septosporum (Dse) that are closely related
	       phylogenetically, but have different lifestyles and
	       hosts. Although both fungi grow extracellularly in close
	       contact with host mesophyll cells, Cfu is a biotroph
	       infecting tomato, while Dse is a hemibiotroph infecting
	       pine. The genomes of these fungi have a similar set of
	       genes (70% of gene content in both genomes are
	       homologs), but differ significantly in size (Cfu >61.1
	       Mb; Dse 31.2 Mb), which is mainly due to the difference
	       in repeat content (47.2% in Cfu versus 3.2% in Dse).
	       Recent adaptation to different lifestyles and hosts is
	       suggested by diverged sets of genes. Cfu contains an
	       α-tomatinase gene that we predict might be required
	       for detoxification of tomatine, whilst this gene is
	       absent in Dse. Many genes encoding secreted proteins are
	       unique to each species and the repeat-rich areas in Cfu
	       are enriched for these species-specific genes. In
	       contrast, conserved genes suggest common host ancestry.
	       Homologs of Cfu effector genes, including Ecp2 and Avr4,
	       are present in Dse and induce a Cf-Ecp2- and
	       Cf-4-mediated hypersensitive response, respectively.
	       Strikingly, genes involved in production of the toxin
	       dothistromin, a likely virulence factor for Dse, are
	       conserved in Cfu, but their expression differs markedly
	       with essentially no expression by Cfu in planta.
	       Likewise, Cfu has a carbohydrate-degrading enzyme
	       catalog that is more similar to that of necrotrophs or
	       hemibiotrophs and a larger pectinolytic gene arsenal
	       than Dse, but many of these genes are not expressed in
	       planta or are pseudogenized. Overall, comparison of
	       their genomes suggests that these closely related plant
	       pathogens had a common ancestral host but since adapted
	       to different hosts and lifestyles by a combination of
	       differentiated gene content, pseudogenization and gene
	       regulation.

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