Phomopsis vexans (Phomopsis blight of eggplant).

P. vexans is a pynicidial anamorph with a teleomorph in the genus Diaporthe. Easily seedborne and producing large numbers of conidia, it causes disease in Solanum melongena [aubergine/brinjal/eggplant], its only significant host. This ranges from poor seed germination and damping-off of seedlings, to leaf and stem lesions and to fruit rot, both in the field and after harvest. The fungus has been reported from widely distributed areas of most continents, but only a few of those are in Europe and Africa, even though the climates are favourable. Seed transmission may explain its broad historical distribution, but limitation of its host range to a non-staple vegetable crop can allow for its avoidance and eradication by cultural methods. As a result, perhaps, it does not appear often on lists of restricted pathogens, even though it may cause yield losses of more than 50%.

Analysis of The Genome Sequence of Phomopsis Vexans: A Fungal Pathogen Causing Phomopsis Blight of Eggplant

Background: Phomopsis vexans is a phytopathogenic fungus causing Phomopsis blight of eggplant. This disease is one of the major issues reducing eggplants production. To lay a solid foundation for the research of pathogenicity and to understand the mechanism of the disease development, the genome of an isolate PV4 was sequenced, assembled and analyzed from Guangdong, China. Results: The assembled complete genome size of Phomopsis vexans was about 59.78 Mb with 51.24% G+C content and 4.93Mb contig N50. In the genome, 3,552 annotated repetitive elements were identified. A total of 15,034 genes with 1,790bp average length were predicted, of which 14,116 genes were annotated by NCBI nr database. Moreover, 1,206 genes were annotated from Carbohydrate-Active enzymes (CAZy) Database which may play a role in degrading plant cell walls. At last, 134 effector proteins were predicted. Conclusions: The present genome is the first genome of Phomopsis vexans. The information obtained from this study support important resource for research on the pathogen and for sheding light on its pathogenicity mechanism.