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Title: Fungal and oomycete genes galore: highlights from the Fungal Genomics Workshop at the 2007 Plant and Animal Genome Conference

Author
item KOMOUN, SOPHIEN - OHIO STATE UNIV.
item Goodwin, Stephen - Steve

Submitted to: New Phytologist
Publication Type: Other
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/27/2007
Publication Date: 3/30/2007
Citation: Komoun, S., Goodwin, S.B. 2007. Fungal and oomycete genes galore: highlights from the Fungal Genomics Workshop at the 2007 Plant and Animal Genome Conference. New Phytologist. 173:713-717.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The objective of the new Fungal Genomics Workshop at the Plant and Animal Genome meetings is to go beyond generating sequences to discuss what can be done next, particularly in comparative genomics and global functional analyses. The new workshop is timely and hopefully will provide a broad forum for an exchange of ideas on how these genomic resources can advance our understanding of fungal biology. For the purpose of the workshop “fungus” was defined broadly to include oomycetes and other fungal-like organisms. This first collection of talks succeeded in addressing the objective of illustrating how genome sequences can be exploited to further our understanding of fungal and oomycete biology. Six speakers provided an overview of state-of-the-art fungal genomics. Sophien Kamoun provided an update on the five oomycete genomes that have been sequenced to date, which are among the most notorious plant pathogens. Gert Kema introduced the genome sequences of the plant pathogens Mycosphaerella fijiensis and M. graminicola, the causal agents of black Sigatoka of banana and septoria tritici blotch of wheat, respectively. Gary Payne focused his talk on comparative genomics of two closely related aspergilli (Aspergillus flavus and A. oryzae) that exhibit distinct ecologies. Won-Bo Shim introduced the ascomycete Fusarium verticillioides, a pathogen that causes stalk and ear rot in maize and produces the fumonisins, mycotoxins that are renowned for causing a debilitating form of brain cancer in horses and esophageal cancer in humans. Jeff Rollins reported on the necrotrophic and broad-host-range pathogen Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. Igor Grigoriev talked about his projects overseeing the annotation of dozens of fungal and oomycete genomes, most recently the zygomycete Phycomyces blakesleeanus.