The Fusarium graminearum Genome Reveals a Link Between Localized Polymorphism and Pathogen Specialization

We sequenced and annotated the genome of the filamentous fungus Fusarium graminearum, a major pathogen of cultivated cereals. Very few repetitive sequences were detected, and the process of repeat-induced point mutation, in which duplicated sequences are subject to extensive mutation, may partially account for the reduced repeat content and apparent low number of paralogous (ancestrally duplicated) genes. A second strain of F. graminearum contained more than 10,000 single-nucleotide polymorphisms, which were frequently located near telomeres and within other discrete chromosomal segments. Many highly polymorphic regions contained sets of genes implicated in plant-fungus interactions and were unusually divergent, with higher rates of recombination. These regions of genome innovation may result from selection due to interactions of F. graminearum with its plant hosts.

¹ Broad Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA.
² Technische Universität München, Freising-Weihenstephan, Germany.
³ Institute for Bioinformatics, GSF National Research Center for Environment and Health, Neuherberg, Germany.
⁴ Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA.
⁵ Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA.
⁶ Cornell University, Ithaca,NY14853,USA.
⁷ Universidad de Córdoba, Córdoba, Spain.
⁸ Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352, USA.
⁹ University of Amsterdam, Netherlands.
¹⁰ BOKU, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria.
¹¹ Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, UK.
¹² University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA.
¹³ Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
¹⁴ U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service, Cereal Disease Laboratory, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA.
¹⁵ St. Louis University, St. Louis, MO 63103, USA.
¹⁶ University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.
¹⁷ University of Tennessee, Memphis, TN 38163, USA.
¹⁸ USDA ARS, National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research, Peoria, IL 61604, USA.
¹⁹ Institut Jacques Monod, Paris, France.
²⁰ Plant Research International, Wageningen, Netherlands.
²¹ Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry and Photochemistry, National Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, Kiev, Ukraine.

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: hckist{at}umn.edu