Biology Faculty Articles
Title
Horizontal Gene Transfer and Gene Dosage Drives Adaptation to Wood Colonization in a Tree Pathogen
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-2-2015
Publication Title
PNAS
Keywords
Poplar Pathogen, Tree Disease, Fungal Genomics, Septoria Canker
ISSN
1091-6490
Volume
112
Issue/No.
11
First Page
3451
Last Page
3456
Abstract
Some of the most damaging tree pathogens can attack woody stems, causing lesions (cankers) that may be lethal. To identify the genomic determinants of wood colonization leading to canker formation, we sequenced the genomes of the poplar canker pathogen, Mycosphaerella populorum, and the closely related poplar leaf pathogen, M. populicola. A secondary metabolite cluster unique to M. populorum is fully activated following induction by poplar wood and leaves. In addition, genes encoding hemicellulose-degrading enzymes, peptidases, and metabolite transporters were more abundant and were up-regulated in M. populorum growing on poplar wood-chip medium compared with M. populicola. The secondary gene cluster and several of the carbohydrate degradation genes have the signature of horizontal transfer from ascomycete fungi associated with wood decay and from prokaryotes. Acquisition and maintenance of the gene battery necessary for growth in woody tissues and gene dosage resulting in gene expression reconfiguration appear to be responsible for the adaptation of M. populorum to infect, colonize, and cause mortality on poplar woody stems.
Additional Comments
This work was supported by the Genomic Research and Development Initiative of Natural Resources Canada, Genome Canada, and Genome BC Project 2112. The work conducted by the US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute was supported by the Office of Science of the US Department of Energy under Contract DE-AC02-05CH11231. E.M. was supported by a grant from The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research and The Netherlands Genomics Initiative 93511035 (to R.P.d.V.).
NSUWorks Citation
Dhillon, Braham; Nicolas Feau; Andrea Aerts; Stéphanie Beauseigle; Louis Bernier; Alex Copeland; Adam Foster; Navdeep Gill; Bernard Henrissat; Padmini Herath; Kurt LaButti; Anthony Levasseur; Erika Lindquist; Eline Majoor; Robin Ohm; Jasmyn Pangilinan; Amadeus Pribowo; John Saddler; Monique Sakalidis; Ronald P. de Vries; Igor Grigoriev; Stephen Goodwin; Philippe Tanguay; and Richard Hamelin. 2015. "Horizontal Gene Transfer and Gene Dosage Drives Adaptation to Wood Colonization in a Tree Pathogen." PNAS 112, (11): 3451-3456. doi:https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1424293112.
ORCID ID
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3746-1866
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1424293112
Comments
For volumes 106–118 (2009–2021), except for open access articles submitted beginning September 2017, the author(s) retains copyright to individual articles, and NAS retains an exclusive License to Publish these articles and holds copyright to the collective work.