Tapping Culture Collections for Fungal Endophytes: First Genome Assemblies for Three Genera and Five Species in theAscomycota

Abstract

The Ascomycota form the largest phylum in the fungal kingdom and show a wide diversity of lifestyles, some involving associations with plants. Genomic data is available for many ascomycetes that are pathogenic to plants, but endophytes, which are asymptomatic inhabitants of plants, are relatively understudied. Here, using short- and long-read technologies, we have sequenced and assembled genomes for 15 endophytic ascomycete strains from CABI’s culture collections. We used phylogenetic analysis to refine the classification of taxa, which revealed that 7 of our 15 genome assemblies are the first for the genus and/or species. We also demonstrated that cytometric genome size estimates can act as a valuable metric for assessing assembly ‘completeness’, which can easily be overestimated when using BUSCOs alone and has broader implications for genome assembly initiatives. In producing these new genome resources, we emphasise the value of mining existing culture collections to produce data that can help to address major research questions relating to plant–fungal interactions.

Structure of Endophytes in the Root, Stem, and Leaf Tissues of Sweetpotato and Their Response to Sweetpotato Scab Disease Caused by Elsinoë batatas

“…This study found that Ascomycota is the dominant endophytic fungus in healthy and diseased sweetpotato samples. It has been reported that Ascomycota is the largest fungal phylum, and its members exhibit a wide range of lifestyle diversity [47]. Moreover, Ascomycota is the most common group of endophytic fungi [48] and plays an important role in soil stability, plant biomass decomposition, and endogenous interactions with plants [49].…”

A revision of the family Cucurbitariaceae with additional new taxa from forest trees in Iran

“…Most members of Cucurbitariaceae are however saprobic, mainly found on the wood, bark and leaves of shrubs and trees, or in the soil at the base of woody plants (Hyde et al 2013; Wanasinghe et al 2017). Some members of Cucurbitariaceae are reported to be endophytes (Jaklitsch et al 2018;Hill et al 2023), or plant pathogens, including Rhytidiella moriformis Zalasky causing perennial rough-bark of Populus balsamifera L. (Doilom et al 2013) and Parafenestella pittospori Crous causing leaf spot of Pittosporum tenuifolium Variegata (Crous et al 2019b). Others are fungicolous, parasitising genera such as Cytospora Ehrenb.…”