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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Food Quality Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #414876
Research Project: System Approaches Using Genomics and Biology to Manage Postharvest Fruit Decay, Antimicrobial Resistance, and Mycotoxins to Reduce Food Loss and Waste

Location: Food Quality Laboratory

Title: The near-gapless penicillium fuscoglaucum genome enables the discovery of lifestyle features as an emerging post-harvest phytopathogen

Author
item LUCIANO-ROSARIO, DIANIRIS - Orise Fellow
item Jurick, Wayne
item Gottschalk, Christopher

Submitted to: The Journal of Fungi
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/3/2024
Publication Date: 6/18/2024
Citation: Luciano-Rosario, D., Jurick Ii, W.M., Gottschalk, C.C. 2024. The near-gapless penicillium fuscoglaucum genome enables the discovery of lifestyle features as an emerging post-harvest phytopathogen. The Journal of Fungi. 10(6):430. https://doi.org/10.3390/jof10060430.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/jof10060430

Interpretive Summary: Fruit storage is essential towards ensuring food security. However, fungal diseases of fruits are one of the main problems that contribute to food waste and food safety. There is a need to understand how fungi cause fruit diseases in order to develop superior control strategies. To do that, scientists need to identify not only the known fungal causative agents of fruit diseases but also similar fungi that cause rot. In this study, we obtained a high-quality genome for a closely related species of the known apple pathogen that causes blue mold decay. We showed that this species can also cause apple rot but to a lesser extent. This knowledge will aid scientists to expand the tools needed to understand, discover, and develop more targeted strategies for apple disease management.

Technical Abstract: Penicillium spp. occupy many diverse biological niches that include plant pathogens, opportunistic human pathogens, saprophytes, indoor air contaminants, and those selected specifically for industrial applications to produce secondary metabolites and lifesaving antibiotics. Recent phylogenetic studies have established Penicillium fuscoglaucum as a synonym for Penicillium commune which is an indoor air contaminant, toxin producer, and can infect apple fruit during storage. During routine culturing on selective media in the lab, we obtained an isolate of P. fuscoglaucum Pf_T2 and sequenced its genome. The Pf_T2 genome is far superior to available genomic resources for the species. Our assembly exhibits a length of 35.1 Mb, a BUSCO score of 97.9% complete, and consists of 5 scaffolds/contigs representing the four expected chromosomes. It was determined that the Pf_T2 genome was colinear with a type specimen P. fuscoglaucum, and contained a lineage specific, intact cylcopaizonic acid (CPA) gene cluster. For a comparison, an aggressive postharvest apple pathogen, P. expansum strain TDL 12.1 was included and showed similar growth pattern in culture to our Pf_T2 isolate but was far more aggressive in apple fruit than P. fuscoglaucum. The genome of Pf_T2 serves as a major improvement over existing resources, has superior annotation and can serve forthcoming omics-based work and functional genetic studies to probe secondary metabolite production and disparities in aggressiveness during apple fruit decay.