The Chromosome-Scale Genomes of Exserohilum rostratum and Bipolaris zeicola Pathogenic Fungi Causing Rice Spikelet Rot Disease

Abstract

Rice spikelet rot disease occurs mainly in the late stages of rice growth. Pathogenicity and biological characteristics of the pathogenic fungus and the infestation site have been the primary focus of research on the disease. To learn more about the disease, we performed whole-genome sequencing of Exserohilum rostratum and Bipolaris zeicola for predicting potentially pathogenic genes. The fungus B. zeicola was only recently identified in rice.We obtained 16 and 15 scaffolds down to the chromosome level for E. rostratum LWI and B. zeicola LWII, respectively. The length of LWI strain was approximately 34.05 Mb, and the G + C content of the whole genome was 50.56%. The length of the LWII strain was approximately 32.21 Mb, and the G + C content of the whole genome was 50.66%. After the prediction and annotation of E. rostratum LWI and B. zeicola LWII, we predicted that the LWI strain and LWII strain contain 8 and 13 potential pathogenic genes, respectively, which may be related to rice infection. These results improve our understanding of the genomes of E. rostratum and B. zeicola and update the genomic databases of these two species. It benefits subsequent studies on the mechanisms of E. rostratum and B. zeicola interactions with rice and helps to develop efficient control measures against rice spikelet rot disease.

First Report of Exserohilum Rostratum as a Potential Pathogen of the Faba Bean Leaf Spot Disease in Iraq

“…The observed phenotypic characteristics and the molecular analysis coincide with the outcomes reported in several other research investigations. The consistency in diagnosis across different studies strengthens the validity and reliability of the results gathered in the present study (Farag, 2020;He et al, 2023). The evolutionary distances computation used the Poisson correction method and was in the unit range of the number of amino acid substitutions per site.…”