Genome Sequence of
                    Ustilaginoidea virens
                    IPU010, a Rice Pathogenic Fungus Causing False Smut

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.

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Insights into the susceptibility of rice to a floral disease

10.1101/2021.03.03.433744 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Guo-Bang Li ◽

Jing Fan ◽

Jie Liu ◽

Jin-Long Wu ◽

Xiao-Hong Hu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Immune Responses ◽

Virulence Factor ◽

Rice Varieties ◽

Ustilaginoidea Virens ◽

Yield And Quality ◽

Causal Fungus ◽

False Smut ◽

Grain Yield And Quality ◽

Fungal Immunity ◽

Anti Fungal

Crop floral diseases are economically important as they reduce grain yield and quality and even introduce food toxins. Rice false smut has emerged as a serious floral disease producing mycotoxins. However, very little is known on the interaction mechanisms between rice flower and the causal fungus Ustilaginoidea virens. Here we show that a conserved anti-fungal immunity in rice flower is disarmed by U. virens via a secreted protein UvChi1. UvChi1 functioned as an essential virulence factor and directly interacted with the chitin receptor CEBiP and co-receptor CERK1 in rice to disrupt their oligomerizations and subsequent immune responses. Moreover, intraspecific-conserved UvChi1 could target OsCEBiP/OsCERK1 receptor complex in at least 98.5% of 5232 surveyed rice accessions. These results demonstrate that U. virens utilizes a crucial virulence factor to subvert chitin-triggered flower immunity in most rice varieties, providing new insights into the susceptibility of rice to false smut disease.

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Extraction of Areas of Rice False Smut Infection Using UAV Hyperspectral Data

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs13163185 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (16) ◽

pp. 3185

Author(s):

Gangqiang An ◽

Minfeng Xing ◽

Binbin He ◽

Haiqi Kang ◽

Jiali Shang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Prediction Accuracy ◽

Hyperspectral Data ◽

Similarity Analysis ◽

Ustilaginoidea Virens ◽

Spatiotemporal Change ◽

Rice False Smut ◽

Yield And Quality ◽

False Smut ◽

Scientific Nature ◽

Over Time

Rice false smut (RFS), caused by Ustilaginoidea virens, is a significant grain disease in rice that can lead to reduced yield and quality. In order to obtain spatiotemporal change information, multitemporal hyperspectral UAV data were used in this study to determine the sensitive wavebands for RFS identification, 665–685 and 705–880 nm. Then, two methods were used for the extraction of rice false smut-infected areas, one based on spectral similarity analysis and one based on spectral and temporal characteristics. The final overall accuracy of the two methods was 74.23 and 85.19%, respectively, showing that the second method had better prediction accuracy. In addition, the classification results of the two methods show that the areas of rice false smut infection had an expanding trend over time, which is consistent with the natural development law of rice false smut, and also shows the scientific nature of the two methods.

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High-Quality Genome Sequence Resource of a Rice False Smut Fungus Ustilaginoidea virens Isolate, UV-FJ-1

Phytopathology ◽

10.1094/phyto-01-21-0007-a ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Jiandong Bao ◽

Rong Wang ◽

Shilei Gao ◽

Zhe Wang ◽

Yu Fang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Genome Assembly ◽

Gene Annotation ◽

Gene Clusters ◽

Single Copy ◽

Effector Proteins ◽

High Quality ◽

Ustilaginoidea Virens ◽

Rice False Smut ◽

False Smut ◽

High Quality Genome

Ustilaginoidea virens is the fungal pathogen causing rice false smut, resulting in not only yield lost but also grain pollution with toxic mycotoxins. Here we deployed PacBio Sequel II HIFI-read sequencing technology to generate a near-complete genome assembly for the U. virens isolate UV-FJ-1 (38.48 Mb), which was isolated from Fujian province, China. The genome assembly contains 116 contigs with N50 of 0.65 Mb and a maximum length of 2.10 Mb, and the genome completeness is ≥98% assessed by benchmarking universal single-copy orthologs (BUSCOs) and the mapping rate of Illumina short reads. Excluding 35.78% repeat sequences, we identified a total of 7,164 protein-coding genes, of which 5,818 were functionally annotated and 223 encode putative effector proteins. Moreover, 21 secondary metabolite biosynthesis gene clusters were found in UV-FJ-1 genome. Taken together, this high-quality genome assembly and gene annotation resource will provide a better insight for characterizing the biological and pathogenic mechanisms of U. virens.

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Complete genome sequence and organization of a novel virus from the rice false smut fungus Ustilaginoidea virens

Virus Genes ◽

10.1007/s11262-013-1022-z ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 48 (2) ◽

pp. 329-333 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Jie Zhong ◽

Jun-Zi Zhu ◽

Xiang-Hua Lei ◽

Dan Chen ◽

Hong-Jian Zhu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Genome Sequence ◽

Complete Genome Sequence ◽

Complete Genome ◽

Smut Fungus ◽

Ustilaginoidea Virens ◽

Rice False Smut ◽

False Smut ◽

Novel Virus

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Genome Sequence Resource for Colletotrichum viniferum, the cause of grapevine ripe rot in China.

Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions ◽

10.1094/mpmi-04-21-0077-a ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Mengru Dou ◽

Yu Hao ◽

Jing Yang ◽

Xiaojian Yuan ◽

Xiao Yin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Genome Sequence ◽

Gene Clusters ◽

Cytochrome P450 Enzymes ◽

Illumina Hiseq ◽

Protein Coding ◽

Yield And Quality ◽

Genome Analyses ◽

High Quality Genome ◽

Important Disease

Grape ripe rot is an important disease that has seriously damaged the yield and quality of grape worldwide. The disease is caused by Colletotrichum viniferum, a hemibiotrophic fungus that belongs to the Glomerellaceae family of Sordariomycetes class. Here, this work presents the genome of C. viniferum stain CvYL2a from grape based on Illumina HiSeq 2500 and PacBio RS II. The high-quality genome consists of 70 contigs with a 73.41 Mb genome size and encodes 14,668 protein-coding genes. These genes were annotated using Gene Ontology, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes, EuKaryotic Orthologous Groups, Non-redundant Protein, and Swiss-Prot database. In addition, we identified a series of genes involved in pathogenicity including 909 carbohydrate-active enzymes, 67 secondary metabolite gene clusters, and 307 Cytochrome P450 enzymes. This genome sequence provides a valuable reference for the research on grape-C. viniferum interactions, the pathogenesis of C. viniferum, and comparative genome analyses. Keywords: Colletotrichum viniferum, grape, genome, pathogenesis

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Consequences of Ustilaginoidea virens infection, causal agent of false smut disease of rice, on production and grain quality of rice

Journal of Cereal Science ◽

10.1016/j.jcs.2021.103220 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 103220

Author(s):

Manas Kumar Bag ◽

Nabaneeta Basak ◽

Torit Bagchi ◽

Prahlad Masurkar ◽

Anuprita Ray ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Grain Quality ◽

Causal Agent ◽

Ustilaginoidea Virens ◽

False Smut

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Effect of Cultural Management Practices on the Severity of False Smut and Kernel Smut of Rice

Plant Disease ◽

10.1094/pdis-93-11-1202 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 93 (11) ◽

pp. 1202-1208 ◽

Cited By ~ 32

Author(s):

Steven A. Brooks ◽

Merle M. Anders ◽

Kathleen M. Yeater

Keyword(s):

Disease Control ◽

Management Practices ◽

Conservation Tillage ◽

Ustilaginoidea Virens ◽

Cultural Management ◽

Yield And Quality ◽

Nitrogen Fertility ◽

False Smut ◽

Grain Yield And Quality ◽

Minor Disease

False smut (Ustilaginoidea virens) and kernel smut (Neovossia horrida) are diseases of rice (Oryza sativa) that reduce both grain yield and quality. False smut is an emerging disease worldwide that is rapidly gaining in importance, whereas kernel smut has historically been a chronic minor disease with sporadic outbreaks that cause considerable losses. Highly effective disease control was obtained for susceptible cultivars by employing conservation tillage (69% reduction in false smut), continuous rice cropping (88% reduction in false smut), and moderate nitrogen fertility rates (34 and 60% reductions in false smut and kernel smut, respectively). Combining these treatments nearly eliminated smuts from cultivars that were fully susceptible under conventional cultivation practices. Furthermore, using a nursery designed to promote smut diseases, two rice hybrids were identified that possessed kernel smut resistance under the most favorable disease conditions. The genetic basis of the resistance is unknown. However, the utility for disease control is great because hybrids occupy significant portions of production rice acreage.

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Intraspecies Interaction of Fusarium graminearum Contributes to Reduced Toxin Production and Virulence

Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions ◽

10.1094/mpmi-06-15-0120-r ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 28 (11) ◽

pp. 1256-1267 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Sean Walkowiak ◽

Christopher T. Bonner ◽

Li Wang ◽

Barbara Blackwell ◽

Owen Rowland ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Fusarium Graminearum ◽

Pathogenic Fungus ◽

Pathogenic Fungi ◽

Toxin Production ◽

In Planta ◽

Head Blight ◽

Trichothecene Mycotoxin ◽

Yield And Quality ◽

Potential Interactions

Fusarium graminearum is a pathogenic fungus that causes Fusarium head blight in wheat and lowers the yield and quality of grains by contamination with the trichothecene mycotoxin deoxynivalenol. The fungi coexist and interact with several different fusaria as well as other plant pathogenic fungi and bacteria in the field. In Canada, F. graminearum exists as two main trichothecene chemotypes: 3-acetyldeoxynivalenol and 15-acetyldeoxynivalenol. To understand the potential interactions between two isolates of these chemotypes, we conducted coinoculation studies both in culture and in planta. The studies showed that intraspecies interaction reduces trichothecene yield in culture and disease symptoms in wheat. To elucidate the genes involved in the intraspecies interaction, expression profiling was performed on RNA samples isolated from coinoculated cultures, and potential genes were identified by using the genome sequences of the respective isolates.

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