(2009) Genome sequence and analysis of the Irish potato famine pathogen Phytophthora infestans. Nature, Vol.461 (No.7262). pp. 393-398. ISSN 0028-0836

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Abstract

Phytophthora infestans is the most destructive pathogen of potato and a model organism for the oomycetes, a distinct lineage of fungus-like eukaryotes that are related to organisms such as brown algae and diatoms. As the agent of the Irish potato famine in the mid-nineteenth century, P. infestans has had a tremendous effect on human history, resulting in famine and population displacement(1). To this day, it affects world agriculture by causing the most destructive disease of potato, the fourth largest food crop and a critical alternative to the major cereal crops for feeding the world's population(1). Current annual worldwide potato crop losses due to late blight are conservatively estimated at $6.7 billion(2). Management of this devastating pathogen is challenged by its remarkable speed of adaptation to control strategies such as genetically resistant cultivars(3,4). Here we report the sequence of the P. infestans genome, which at similar to 240 megabases (Mb) is by far the largest and most complex genome sequenced so far in the chromalveolates. Its expansion results from a proliferation of repetitive DNA accounting for similar to 74% of the genome. Comparison with two other Phytophthora genomes showed rapid turnover and extensive expansion of specific families of secreted disease effector proteins, including many genes that are induced during infection or are predicted to have activities that alter host physiology. These fast-evolving effector genes are localized to highly dynamic and expanded regions of the P. infestans genome. This probably plays a crucial part in the rapid adaptability of the pathogen to host plants and underpins its evolutionary potential.

Item Type:	Journal Item
Subjects:	Q Science
Divisions:	Faculty of Science > Life Sciences (2010- )
Journal or Publication Title:	Nature
Publisher:	Nature Publishing
ISSN:	0028-0836
Date:	17 September 2009
Volume:	Vol.461
Number:	No.7262
Number of Pages:	6
Page Range:	pp. 393-398
Identification Number:	10.1038/nature08358
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Access rights to Published version:	Restricted or Subscription Access
Description:	Letter
Funder:	National Research Initiative of the USDA Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service, National Science Foundation, Gatsby Charitable Foundation
Grant number:	2004-35600-15024, 2006-35600-16623, EF-0333274, EF-0523670
URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/17319

Data sourced from Thomson Reuters' Web of Knowledge

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