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ARS Home » Plains Area » Fargo, North Dakota » Edward T. Schafer Agricultural Research Center » Cereal Crops Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #395821
Research Project: Improvement of Biotic Stress Resistance in Durum and Hard Red Spring Wheat Using Genetics and Genomics

Location: Cereal Crops Research

Title: Comparative genome analysis of plant rust pathogen genomes reveal a confluence of pathogenicity factors to quell host plant defense responses

Author
item Nandety, Raja Sekhar
item GILL, UPINDER - North Dakota State University
item KROM, NICK - Oklahoma State University
item DAI, XINBIN - Oklahoma State University
item DONG, YIBO - University Of Florida
item ZHAO, PATRICK - Oklahoma State University
item MYSORE, KIRANKUMAR - Oklahoma State University

Submitted to: Plants
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/20/2022
Publication Date: 7/28/2022
Citation: Nandety, R.S., Gill, U.S., Krom, N., Dai, X., Dong, Y., Zhao, P., Mysore, K.S.2022. Comparative genome analysis of plant rust pathogen genomes reveal a confluence of pathogenicity factors to quell host plant defense responses. Plants. 11. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11151962.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11151962

Interpretive Summary: Rust pathogens cause severe damage to monocot cereals and bioenergy crops such as wheat, barley, oats and maize, sorghum and switchgrass. A comparative genome analysis of all the rust pathogen genomes was performed to identify the variations within the pathogens and to identify the pathogenic factors that are at the crux of host-pathogen interactions. Genome wide comparison of the plant rust genomes resulted in the identification of pathogenicity factors that could be used to engineer resistance in plants against rust pathogens.

Technical Abstract: Switchgrass rust caused by Puccinia novopanici (P. novopanici) has the ability to significantly affect the biomass yield of switchgrass, an important biofuel crop in the United States. A comparative genome analysis of Puccinia spp. infecting wheat, barley, oats, maize and sorghum revealed that there are larger structural variations in the genomes resulting in the genome size variations. A comparative alignment of the rust pathogen genomes resulted in the identification of collinear and syntenic relationships between P. novopanici and P. sorghi; P. graminis tritici 21-0 (Pgt 21) and P. graminis tritici Ug99 (Pgt Ug99) and between Pgt 21 and P. triticina (Pt 77). Repeat element analysis indicated a strong presence of retro elements among different Puccinia genomes, contributing to the genome size variation between ~1 and 3%. A comparative look at the enriched protein families of Puccinia spp. reveal a predominant role of restriction of telomere capping proteins (RTC), disulfide isomerases, polysaccharide deacetylases, glycoside hydrolases, superoxide dismutases, multi-copper oxidases (MCO’s). All the proteomes of Puccinia spp. share in common a repertoire of 75 secretory and 24 effector proteins including glycoside hydrolases cellobiohydrolases, peptidyl-propyl isomerases, polysaccharide deacetylases, and protein disulfide-isomerases that remain central to their pathogenicity. Comparison of the predicted effector proteins from Puccinia spp. genomes to the validated proteins from pathogen host interactions database (PHI-base) resulted in the identification of validated effector proteins PgtSR1 (PGTG_09586) from P. graminis and Mlp124478 from Melampsora laricis across all the rust pathogen genomes.