Highly conserved, but highly specific: Somatic cell–cell fusion in filamentous fungi

Fleißner, André; Oostlander, Anne G.; Well, Lucas

doi:10.1016/j.ceb.2022.102140

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 38 publications

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“…It is still unclear how H. pulvinata acquired the DPH clusters from the ancestral Aspergillus . Since horizontal transfer of foreign DNA first requires contact between fungal cells, the involvement of anastomosis between conidia, germ tubes or hyphae, and subsequent heterokaryon formation, have been proposed (Kubicek et al, 2019; Fleißner et al, 2022; Bucknell and McDonald, 2023). H. pulvinata has a wide host range, including plant pathogens (Peresse and Lepicard, 1980; Mitchell and Taber, 1986; Mitchell et al, 1986; Mitchell et al, 1987; Mello et al, 2008; Alderman et al, 2010), and plant pathogens in Aspergillus sections Flavi and Circumdati may provide opportunities for contact with H. pulvinata on plants and subsequent gene transfer.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adaptive evolution of sesquiterpene deoxyphomenone in mycoparasitism byHansfordia pulvinataassociated with horizontal gene transfer fromAspergillusspecies

Maeda,

Sumita,

Nishi

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Leaf mold caused by the ascomycete fungus Cladosporium fulvum is a devastating disease of tomato plants. The mycoparasitic fungus Hansfordia pulvinata is an effective biocontrol agent that parasitizes C. fulvum hyphae on leaves and secretes 13-deoxyphomenone, an eremophilane-type sesquiterpene, which was also identified as a sporulation-inducing factor in Aspergillus oryzae. Here, we identified deoxyphomenone biosynthesis (DPH) gene clusters conserved in both H. pulvinata and Aspergillus section Flavi including A. oryzae and A. flavus. Functional disruption of DPH1 orthologous genes encoding sesquiterpene cyclase in H. pulvinata, A. oryzae and its close relative A. flavus revealed that deoxyphomenone in H. pulvinata had exogenic antifungal activity against the host fungus C. fulvum and controlled endogenic sporulation in Aspergillus species. Deoxyphomenone also inhibited mycelial growth of C. fulvum and the non-host tomato pathogen Pseudocercospora fuligena. Complete DPH clusters, highly similar to those in H. pulvinata, were exclusive to Aspergillus section Flavi, while species in other Aspergillus sections contained fragmented DPH clusters. A comparative genomics analysis revealed that these DPH gene clusters share a common origin and are horizontally transferred across large taxonomic distances from an ancestor of Aspergillus to H. pulvinata. Our results suggest that, after horizontal transfer, H. pulvinata maintained the DPH cluster as the inhibitory effect of deoxyphomenone on spore germination and mycelial growth contributed to its mycoparasitism on the host fungus C. fulvum.

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