scholarly journals Categorization of Orthologous Gene Clusters in 92 Ascomycota Genomes Reveals Functions Important for Phytopathogenicity

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 337
Author(s):  
Daniel Peterson ◽  
Tang Li ◽  
Ana M. Calvo ◽  
Yanbin Yin

Phytopathogenic Ascomycota are responsible for substantial economic losses each year, destroying valuable crops. The present study aims to provide new insights into phytopathogenicity in Ascomycota from a comparative genomic perspective. This has been achieved by categorizing orthologous gene groups (orthogroups) from 68 phytopathogenic and 24 non-phytopathogenic Ascomycota genomes into three classes: Core, (pathogen or non-pathogen) group-specific, and genome-specific accessory orthogroups. We found that (i) ~20% orthogroups are group-specific and accessory in the 92 Ascomycota genomes, (ii) phytopathogenicity is not phylogenetically determined, (iii) group-specific orthogroups have more enriched functional terms than accessory orthogroups and this trend is particularly evident in phytopathogenic fungi, (iv) secreted proteins with signal peptides and horizontal gene transfers (HGTs) are the two functional terms that show the highest occurrence and significance in group-specific orthogroups, (v) a number of other functional terms are also identified to have higher significance and occurrence in group-specific orthogroups. Overall, our comparative genomics analysis determined positive enrichment existing between orthogroup classes and revealed a prediction of what genomic characteristics make an Ascomycete phytopathogenic. We conclude that genes shared by multiple phytopathogenic genomes are more important for phytopathogenicity than those that are unique in each genome.

BMC Genomics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yang Yang ◽  
Xiaobao Liu ◽  
Jimiao Cai ◽  
Yipeng Chen ◽  
Boxun Li ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Sarocladium brachiariae is a newly identified endophytic fungus isolated from Brachiaria brizantha. A previous study indicated that S. brachiariae had antifungal activity; however, limited genomic information restrains further study. Therefore, we sequenced the genome of S. brachiariae and compared it with the genome of S. oryzae to identify differences between a Sarocladium plant pathogen and an endophyte. Results In this study, we reported a gapless genome sequence of a newly identified endophytic fungus Sarocladium brachiariae isolated from Brachiaria brizantha. The genome of S. brachiariae is 31.86 Mb, with a contig N50 of 3.27 Mb and 9903 protein coding genes. Phylogenomic analysis based on single copy orthologous genes provided insights into the evolutionary relationships of S. brachiariae and its closest species was identified as S. oryzae. Comparative genomics analysis revealed that S. brachiaria has 14.9% more plant cell wall degradation related CAZymes to S. oryzae, and 33.3% more fungal cell wall degradation related CAZymes, which could explain the antifungal activity of S. brachiaria. Based on Antibiotics & Secondary Metabolite Analysis Shell (antiSMASH) analysis, we identified a contact helvolic acid biosynthetic gene cluster (BGC) for the first time in S. oryzae. However, S. brachiaria had seven fewer terpene gene clusters, including helvolic acid BGC, compared with S. oryzae and this may be associated with adaptation to an endophytic lifestyle. Synteny analysis of polyketide synthases (PKS), non-ribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPS), and hybrid (PKS-NRPS) gene clusters between S. brachiariae and S. oryzae revealed that just 37.5% of tested clusters have good synteny, while 63.5% have no or poor synteny. This indicated that the S. brachiariae could potentially synthesize a variety of unknown-function secondary metabolites, which may play an important role in adaptation to its endophytic lifestyle and antifungal activity. Conclusions The data provided a better understanding of the Sarocladium brachiariae genome. Further comparative genomic analysis provided insight into the genomic basis of its endophytic lifestyle and antifungal activity.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 485
Author(s):  
Boxun Li ◽  
Yang Yang ◽  
Jimiao Cai ◽  
Xianbao Liu ◽  
Tao Shi ◽  
...  

Rubber tree Corynespora leaf fall (CLF) disease, caused by the fungus Corynespora cassiicola, is one of the most damaging diseases in rubber tree plantations in Asia and Africa, and this disease also threatens rubber nurseries and young rubber plantations in China. C. cassiicola isolates display high genetic diversity, and virulence profiles vary significantly depending on cultivar. Although one phytotoxin (cassicolin) has been identified, it cannot fully explain the diversity in pathogenicity between C. cassiicola species, and some virulent C. cassiicola strains do not contain the cassiicolin gene. In the present study, we report high-quality gapless genome sequences, obtained using short-read sequencing and single-molecule long-read sequencing, of two Chinese C. cassiicola virulent strains. Comparative genomics of gene families in these two stains and a virulent CPP strain from the Philippines showed that all three strains experienced different selective pressures, and metabolism-related gene families vary between the strains. Secreted protein analysis indicated that the quantities of secreted cell wall-degrading enzymes were correlated with pathogenesis, and the most aggressive CCP strain (cassiicolin toxin type 1) encoded 27.34% and 39.74% more secreted carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes) than Chinese strains YN49 and CC01, respectively, both of which can only infect rubber tree saplings. The results of antiSMASH analysis showed that all three strains encode ~60 secondary metabolite biosynthesis gene clusters (SM BGCs). Phylogenomic and domain structure analyses of core synthesis genes, together with synteny analysis of polyketide synthase (PKS) and non-ribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) gene clusters, revealed diversity in the distribution of SM BGCs between strains, as well as SM polymorphisms, which may play an important role in pathogenic progress. The results expand our understanding of the C. cassiicola genome. Further comparative genomic analysis indicates that secreted CAZymes and SMs may influence pathogenicity in rubber tree plantations. The findings facilitate future exploration of the molecular pathogenic mechanism of C. cassiicola.


Author(s):  
Mengqi Jiang ◽  
Xi Xu ◽  
Jia Song ◽  
Dongmei Li ◽  
Liyuan Han ◽  
...  

The fungal pathogen Botrytis cinerea is the causal agent of devastating gray mold diseases in many economically important fruits, vegetables, and flowers, leading to serious economic losses worldwide. In this study, a novel actinomycete NEAU-LD23T exhibiting antifungal activity against B. cinerea was isolated, and its taxonomic position was evaluated using a polyphasic approach. Based on the genotypic, phenotypic and chemotaxonomic data, it is concluded that the strain represents a novel species within the genus Streptomyces , for which the name Streptomyces botrytidirepellens sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is NEAU-LD23T (=CCTCC AA 2019029T=DSM 109824T). In addition, strain NEAU-LD23T showed a strong antagonistic effect against B. cinerea (82.6±2.5%) and varying degrees of inhibition on nine other phytopathogenic fungi. Both cell-free filtrate and methanol extract of mycelia of strain NEAU-LD23T significantly inhibited mycelial growth of B. cinerea. To preliminarily explore the antifungal mechanisms, the genome of strain NEAU-LD23T was sequenced and analyzed. AntiSMASH analysis led to the identification of several gene clusters responsible for the biosynthesis of bioactive secondary metabolites with antifungal activity, including 9-methylstreptimidone, echosides, anisomycin, coelichelin and desferrioxamine B. Overall, this research provided us an excellent strain with considerable potential to use for biological control of tomato gray mold.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hualin Liu ◽  
Bingyue Xin ◽  
Jinshui Zheng ◽  
Hao Zhong ◽  
Yun Yu ◽  
...  

Abstract More and more frequently, genomics and comparative genomics have been used as routine methods for general microbiological research. However, using several tools or even writing some scripts are required for completing a simple analysis, which is complicated for most biological researchers. To simplify the operation process, particularly for the convenience of microbiologists, here we have developed PGCGAP, a comprehensive, malleable, and easily installed prokaryotic genomic and comparative genomic analysis pipeline. PGCGAP implements genome assembly, gene prediction and annotation, genome and metagenome distance estimation, phylogenetic analysis, COG annotation, pan-genome analysis, inference of orthologous gene groups, variant calling and annotation, and screening for antimicrobial and virulence genes. Although we have tried our best to simplify the installation and usage of PGCGAP, it may be difficult for non-bioinformaticians to master it. Therefore, a protocol was created to help microbiologists without any experience in bioinformatics to establish their bioinformatics platform and perform routine analyses. This protocol shows how to choose the equipment to install a Linux subsystem on a laptop with a Windows 10 system, to install the PGCGAP and perform all analyses with an example dataset. The protocol requires a basic understanding of Linux, so an additional web page was written to help uninitiated users learn Linux and whole-genome sequencing (https://github.com/liaochenlanruo/pgcgap/wiki/Learning-bioinformatics or http://bcam.hzau.edu.cn/linuxwgs.php).


2007 ◽  
Vol 189 (22) ◽  
pp. 8186-8195 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Luisa Hiller ◽  
Benjamin Janto ◽  
Justin S. Hogg ◽  
Robert Boissy ◽  
Susan Yu ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The distributed-genome hypothesis (DGH) states that pathogenic bacteria possess a supragenome that is much larger than the genome of any single bacterium and that these pathogens utilize genetic recombination and a large, noncore set of genes as a means of diversity generation. We sequenced the genomes of eight nasopharyngeal strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae isolated from pediatric patients with upper respiratory symptoms and performed quantitative genomic analyses among these and nine publicly available pneumococcal strains. Coding sequences from all strains were grouped into 3,170 orthologous gene clusters, of which 1,454 (46%) were conserved among all 17 strains. The majority of the gene clusters, 1,716 (54%), were not found in all strains. Genic differences per strain pair ranged from 35 to 629 orthologous clusters, with each strain's genome containing between 21 and 32% noncore genes. The distribution of the orthologous clusters per genome for the 17 strains was entered into the finite-supragenome model, which predicted that (i) the S. pneumoniae supragenome contains more than 5,000 orthologous clusters and (ii) 99% of the orthologous clusters (∼3,000) that are represented in the S. pneumoniae population at frequencies of ≥0.1 can be identified if 33 representative genomes are sequenced. These extensive genic diversity data support the DGH and provide a basis for understanding the great differences in clinical phenotype associated with various pneumococcal strains. When these findings are taken together with previous studies that demonstrated the presence of a supragenome for Streptococcus agalactiae and Haemophilus influenzae, it appears that the possession of a distributed genome is a common host interaction strategy.


2010 ◽  
Vol 192 (21) ◽  
pp. 5625-5636 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhuofei Xu ◽  
Xiabing Chen ◽  
Lu Li ◽  
Tingting Li ◽  
Shengyue Wang ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The Gram-negative bacterium Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae is the etiologic agent of porcine contagious pleuropneumoniae, a lethal respiratory infectious disease causing great economic losses in the swine industry worldwide. In order to better interpret the genetic background of serotypic diversity, nine genomes of A. pleuropneumoniae reference strains of serovars 1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13 were sequenced by using rapid high-throughput approach. Based on 12 genomes of corresponding serovar reference strains including three publicly available complete genomes (serovars 3, 5b, and 7) of this bacterium, we performed a comprehensive analysis of comparative genomics and first reported a global genomic characterization for this pathogen. Clustering of 26,012 predicted protein-coding genes showed that the pan genome of A. pleuropneumoniae consists of 3,303 gene clusters, which contain 1,709 core genome genes, 822 distributed genes, and 772 strain-specific genes. The genome components involved in the biogenesis of capsular polysaccharide and lipopolysaccharide O antigen relative to serovar diversity were compared, and their genetic diversity was depicted. Our findings shed more light on genomic features associated with serovar diversity of A. pleuropneumoniae and provide broader insight into both pathogenesis research and clinical/epidemiological application against the severe disease caused by this swine pathogen.


Genes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 1421
Author(s):  
Yuqiang Zhao ◽  
Yanxin Wang ◽  
Chengyao Xia ◽  
Xu Li ◽  
Xianfeng Ye ◽  
...  

Corallococcus sp. strain EGB is a Gram-negative myxobacteria isolated from saline soil, and has considerable potential for the biocontrol of phytopathogenic fungi. However, the detailed mechanisms related to development and predatory behavior are unclear. To obtain a comprehensive overview of genetic features, the genome of strain EGB was sequenced, annotated, and compared with 10 other Corallococcus species. The strain EGB genome was assembled as a single circular chromosome of 9.4 Mb with 7916 coding genes. Phylogenomics analysis showed that strain EGB was most closely related to Corallococcus interemptor AB047A, and it was inferred to be a novel species within the Corallococcus genus. Comparative genomic analysis revealed that the pan-genome of Corallococcus genus was large and open. Only a small proportion of genes were specific to strain EGB, and most of them were annotated as hypothetical proteins. Subsequent analyses showed that strain EGB produced abundant extracellular enzymes such as chitinases and β-(1,3)-glucanases, and proteases to degrade the cell-wall components of phytopathogenic fungi. In addition, 35 biosynthetic gene clusters potentially coding for antimicrobial compounds were identified in the strain EGB, and the majority of them were present in the dispensable pan-genome with unexplored metabolites. Other genes related to secretion and regulation were also explored for strain EGB. This study opens new perspectives in the greater understanding of the predatory behavior of strain EGB, and facilitates a potential application in the biocontrol of fungal plant diseases in the future.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hualin Liu ◽  
Bingyue Xin ◽  
Jinshui Zheng ◽  
Hao Zhong ◽  
Yun Yu ◽  
...  

Abstract Genomics and comparative genomics have been increasingly used as routine methods for general microbiological researches. However, it is usually necessary to call several tools or even write some scripts to complete some simple analysis, which is complicated for most biological researchers. To simplify the operation process, especially for the convenience of microbiologists in the analysis, here we have developed PGCGAP, a comprehensive, malleable and easily-installed prokaryotic genomics and comparative genomics analysis pipeline, which implements genome assembly, gene prediction and annotation, average nucleotide identity (ANI) calculation, phylogenetic analysis, COG annotation, pan-genome analysis, inference of orthologous gene groups, variants calling and annotation and screening for antimicrobial and virulence genes. Although we have tried our best to simplify the installation and usage of PGCGAP, it may be difficult for non-bioinformatician users to master it. So, a protocol was created to help microbiologists without any experience in bioinformatics to establish their own bioinformatics platform and perform routine analysis. This protocol shows how to choose equipment, to install a Linux subsystem on a laptop with windows 10 system, to install PGCGAP and perform all analysis with an example dataset. The protocol requires a basic understanding of Linux, so an additional web page was written to help uninitiated users learn Linux and whole-genome sequencing (http://bcam.hzau.edu.cn/linuxwgs.php).


Author(s):  
Hualin Liu ◽  
Bingyue Xin ◽  
Jinshui Zheng ◽  
Hao Zhong ◽  
Yun Yu ◽  
...  

Abstract Genomics and comparative genomics have been increasingly used as routine methods for general microbiological researches. However, it is usually necessary to call several tools or even write some scripts to complete some simple analysis, which is complicated for most biological researchers. To simplify the operation process, especially for the convenience of microbiologists in the analysis, here we have developed PGCGAP, a comprehensive, malleable and easily-installed prokaryotic genomics and comparative genomics analysis pipeline, which implements genome assembly, gene prediction and annotation, average nucleotide identity (ANI) calculation, phylogenetic analysis, COG annotation, pan-genome analysis, inference of orthologous gene groups, variants calling and annotation and screening for antimicrobial and virulence genes. Although we have tried our best to simplify the installation and usage of PGCGAP, it may be difficult for non-bioinformatician users to master it. So, a protocol was created to help microbiologists without any experience in bioinformatics to establish their own bioinformatics platform and perform routine analysis. This protocol shows how to choose equipment, to install a Linux subsystem on a laptop with windows 10 system, to install PGCGAP and perform all analysis with an example dataset. The protocol requires a basic understanding of Linux, so an additional web page was written to help uninitiated users learn Linux and whole-genome sequencing (https://github.com/liaochenlanruo/pgcgap/wiki/Learning-bioinformatics or http://bcam.hzau.edu.cn/linuxwgs.php).


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hualin Liu ◽  
Bingyue Xin ◽  
Jinshui Zheng ◽  
Hao Zhong ◽  
Yun Yu ◽  
...  

Abstract Genomics and comparative genomics have been increasingly used as routine methods for general microbiological researches. However, it is usually necessary to call several tools or even write some scripts to complete some simple analysis, which is complicated for most biological researchers. To simplify the operation process, especially for the convenience of microbiologists in the analysis, here we have developed PGCGAP, a comprehensive, malleable and easily-installed prokaryotic genomics and comparative genomics analysis pipeline, which implements genome assembly, gene prediction and annotation, average nucleotide identity (ANI) calculation, phylogenetic analysis, COG annotation, pan-genome analysis, inference of orthologous gene groups, variants calling and annotation and screening for antimicrobial and virulence genes. Although we have tried our best to simplify the installation and usage of PGCGAP, it may be difficult for non-bioinformatician users to master it. So, a protocol was created to help microbiologists without any experience in bioinformatics to establish their own bioinformatics platform and perform routine analysis. This protocol shows how to choose equipment, to install a Linux subsystem on a laptop with windows 10 system, to install PGCGAP and perform all analysis with an example dataset. The protocol requires a basic understanding of Linux, so an additional web page was written to help uninitiated users learn Linux and whole-genome sequencing (https://github.com/liaochenlanruo/pgcgap/wiki/Learning-bioinformatics).


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