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You are here : Home / Home URGI / About us / Publications / 2014 / Transposable element-assisted evolution and adaptation to host plant within the Leptosphaeria maculans-Leptosphaeria biglobosa species complex of fungal pathogens

2014

International,  ACL (papers with reading comittee)

BMC Genomics 2014 15:891   doi:10.1186/1471-2164-15-891

12 Oct 2014   Transposable element-assisted evolution and adaptation to host plant within the Leptosphaeria maculans-Leptosphaeria biglobosa species complex of fungal pathogens

Jonathan Grandaubert, Rohan G Lowe, Jessica L Soyer, Conrad L Schoch, Angela P Van de Wouw, Isabelle Fudal, Barbara Robbertse, Nicolas Lapalu, Matthew G Links, Bénédicte Ollivier, Juliette Linglin, Valérie Barbe, Sophie Mangenot, Corinne Cruaud, Hossein Borhan, Barbara J Howlett, Marie-Hélène Balesdent and Thierry Rouxel

 

Background

Many plant-pathogenic fungi have a tendency towards genome size expansion, mostly driven by increasing content of transposable elements (TEs). Through comparative and evolutionary genomics, five members of the Leptosphaeria maculans-Leptosphaeria biglobosa species complex (class Dothideomycetes, order Pleosporales), having different host ranges and pathogenic abilities towards cruciferous plants, were studied to infer the role of TEs on genome shaping, speciation, and on the rise of better adapted pathogens.

Results

L. maculans 'brassicae', the most damaging species on oilseed rape, is the only member of the species complex to have a TE-invaded genome (32.5%) compared to the other members genomes (<4%). These TEs had an impact at the structural level by creating large TE-rich regions and are suspected to have been instrumental in chromosomal rearrangements possibly leading to speciation. TEs, associated with species-specific genes involved in disease process, also possibly had an incidence on evolution of pathogenicity by promoting translocations of effector genes to highly dynamic regions and thus tuning the regulation of effector gene expression in planta.

Conclusions

Invasion of L. maculans 'brassicae' genome by TEs followed by bursts of TE activity allowed this species to evolve and to better adapt to its host, making this genome species a peculiarity within its own species complex as well as in the Pleosporales lineage.


Keywords: Transposable_elements;Leptosphaeria;Fungi
Update: 27 Jul 2015
Creation date: 16 Oct 2014