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ARS Home » Midwest Area » St. Paul, Minnesota » Cereal Disease Lab » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #353480
Research Project: Fusarium Head Blight of Cereals: Pathogen Biology, Associated Phytobiome, and Host Resistance

Location: Cereal Disease Lab

Title: Kinome expansion in the Fusarium oxysporum species complex driven by accessory chromosomes

Author
item DEIUILO, GREGORY - University Of Massachusetts
item GUO, LI - University Of Massachusetts
item ZHANG, YONG - University Of Massachusetts
item GOLDBERG, JONATHAN - Broad Institute Of Mit/harvard
item Kistler, Harold
item MA, LI-JUN - University Of Massachusetts

Submitted to: mSphere
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/23/2018
Publication Date: 6/13/2018
Citation: Deiuilo, G.A., Guo, L., Zhang, Y., Goldberg, J.M., Kistler, H.C., Ma, L. 2018. Kinome expansion in the Fusarium oxysporum species complex driven by accessory chromosomes. mSphere. 3(3):e00231-18. https://doi.org/10.1128/mSphere.00231-18.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1128/mSphere.00231-18

Interpretive Summary: The fungus Fusarium oxysporum causes wilt disease on many plants and is adapted to survive a wide range of conditions. In addition, F. oxysporum is recognized as an emerging opportunistic fungal pathogen infecting immunocompromised humans. The capacity of these fungi to sense their environment and host undoubtedly plays a role in the ability to cause disease. We have examined the proteins that allow the fungus to sense its environment in 12 F. oxysporum isolates and identified protein variants that distinguish F. oxysporum from other fungi, as well as different isolates from one another. The abundance of the proteins involved in environmental signal relay and regulating cellular responses set Fusarium apart from other related fungi. Though the function of many of these proteins is still unclear, their specific proliferation implicates them as resulting from forces which have shaped genome and that distinguish this pathogen from other fungi. These proteins thus may serve as targets to exploit in order to combat disease.

Technical Abstract: The Fusarium oxysporum species complex (FOSC) is a group of soil-borne pathogens causing severe disease in over one hundred plant hosts, while individual strains exhibit strong host specificity. Both chromosome transfer and comparative genomics experiments have demonstrated that lineage-specific (LS) chromosomes contribute to the host specific pathogenicity. However, little is known about the functional importance of genes encoded in these LS chromosomes. Focusing on signaling transduction, this study compared kinomes of 12 F. oxysporum isolates, including both plant and human pathogens and one non-pathogenic biocontrol strain, with seven additional publicly available ascomycete genomes. Overall, F. oxysporum kinomes are the largest, facilitated in part by the acquisitions of the LS chromosomes. The comparative study identified 99 kinases that are present in almost all examined fungal genomes, forming the core signaling network of ascomycete fungi. Compared to the conserved ascomycete kinome, the expansion of the F. oxysporum kinome occurs in several kinases families such as Histidine kinases that are involved in environmental signal sensing and TOR kinase that mediates cellular responses. Comparative kinome analysis suggests a convergent evolution that shapes individual F. oxysporum isolates with an enhanced and unique capacity for environmental perception and associated downstream responses.