Genomic Analysis of the Necrotrophic Fungal Pathogens Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and Botrytis cinerea

Abstract

Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and Botrytis cinerea are closely related necrotrophic plant pathogenic fungi notable for their wide host ranges and environmental persistence. These attributes have made these species models for understanding the complexity of necrotrophic, broad host-range pathogenicity. Despite their similarities, the two species differ in mating behaviour and the ability to produce asexual spores. We have sequenced the genomes of one strain of S. sclerotiorum and two strains of B. cinerea. The comparative analysis of these genomes relative to one another and to other sequenced fungal genomes is provided here. Their 38–39 Mb genomes include 11,860–14,270 predicted genes, which share 83% amino acid identity on average between the two species. We have mapped the S. sclerotiorum assembly to 16 chromosomes and found large-scale co-linearity with the B. cinerea genomes. Seven percent of the S. sclerotiorum genome comprises transposable elements compared to <1% of B. cinerea. The arsenal of genes associated with necrotrophic processes is similar between the species, including genes involved in plant cell wall degradation and oxalic acid production. Analysis of secondary metabolism gene clusters revealed an expansion in number and diversity of B. cinerea–specific secondary metabolites relative to S. sclerotiorum. The potential diversity in secondary metabolism might be involved in adaptation to specific ecological niches. Comparative genome analysis revealed the basis of differing sexual mating compatibility systems between S. sclerotiorum and B. cinerea. The organization of the mating-type loci differs, and their structures provide evidence for the evolution of heterothallism from homothallism. These data shed light on the evolutionary and mechanistic bases of the genetically complex traits of necrotrophic pathogenicity and sexual mating. This resource should facilitate the functional studies designed to better understand what makes these fungi such successful and persistent pathogens of agronomic crops.

Arabidopsis Defense against Botrytis cinerea: Chronology and Regulation Deciphered by High-Resolution Temporal Transcriptomic Analysis

“…Recent genome analysis has indicated that B. cinerea has the ability to produce ;40 different toxins, including botrydial and botcinic acid, which have been previously characterized (Amselem et al, 2011). Not surprisingly, toxin catabolism is a functional GO term highlighted in our time series expression data.…”

Specific adaptation of Ustilaginoidea virens in occupying host florets revealed by comparative and functional genomics

“…Our comparative genomics analyses found that U. virens contains many fewer genes than hemi-biotrophic fungal pathogens including F. graminearum and M. oryzae or the necrotrophic S. sclerotiorum 48 . In particular, U. virens is dramatically reduced in at least three categories of functional proteins.…”

Comparative study of genome-wide plant biomass-degrading CAZymes in white rot, brown rot and soft rot fungi

“…We have selected (a) 14 popular white rot fungal strains – Ceriporiopsis subvermispora B (Fernandez-Fueyo et al 2012), Heterobasidion annosum v2.0 (Olson et al 2012), Fomitiporia mediterranea v1.0 (Floudas et al 2012), Phanerochaete carnosa HHB-10118 (Suzuki et al 2012), Pycnoporus cinnabarinus BRFM 137 (Levasseur et al 2014), Phanerochaete chrysosporium R78 v2.2 (Martinez et al 2004; Ohm et al 2014), Dichomitus squalens LYAD-421 SS1 (Floudas et al 2012), Trametes versicolor v1.0 (Floudas et al 2012), Punctularia strigosozonata v1.0 (Floudas et al 2012), Phlebia brevispora HHB-7030 SS6 (Binder et al 2013), Botrytis cinerea v1.0 (Amselem et al 2011), Pleurotus ostreatus PC15 v2.0 (Riley et al 2014; Alfaro et al 2016; Castanera et al 2016), Stereum hirsutum FP-91666 SS1 v1.0 (Floudas et al 2012), Pleurotus eryngii ATCC90797 (Guillen et al 1992; Camarero et al 1999; Ruiz‐Dueñas et al 1999; Matheny et al 2006); (b) 15 popular brown rot fungal strains – Postia placenta MAD 698-R v1.0 (Martinez et al 2009), Fibroporia radiculosa TFFH 294 (Tang et al 2012), Wolfiporia cocos MD-104 SS10 v1.0 (Floudas et al 2012), Dacryopinax primogenitus DJM 731 SSP1 v1.0 (Floudas et al 2012), Daedalea quercina v1.0 (Nagy et al 2015), Laetiporus sulphureus var v1.0 (Nagy et al 2015), Postia placenta MAD-698-R-SB12 v1.0 (Martinez et al 2009), Neolentinus lepideus v1.0 (Nagy et al 2015), Serpula lacrymans S7.9 v2.0 (Eastwood et al 2011), Calocera cornea v1.0 (Eastwood et al 2011), Gloeophyllum trabeum v1.0 (Floudas et al 2012), Fistulina hepatica v1.0 (Floudas et al 2015), Fomitopsis pinicola FP-58527 SS1 (Floudas et al 2015), Hydnomerulius pinastri v2.0 (Kohler et al 2015) and Coniophora puteana v1.0 (Kohler et al 2015); (c) 13 popular soft rot fungal strains – Trichoderma reesei v 2.0 (Martinez et al 2008), Rhizopus oryzae 99-880 from Broad (Ma et al 2009), Aspergillus wentii v1.0 (De Vries et al 2017), Penicillium chrysogenum Wisconsin 54-1255 (Van Den Berg et al 2008), Daldinia eschscholzii EC12 v1.0, Hypoxylon sp. CI-4A v1.0 (Wu et al 2017), Aspergillus niger ATCC 1015 v4.0 (Andersen et al 2011), Hypoxylon sp.…”