(2009) Genome sequence and analysis of the Irish potato famine pathogen Phytophthora infestans. Nature, Volume 461 (Number 7262). pp. 393-398. doi:10.1038/nature08358

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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 displacement1. 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 population1. Current annual worldwide potato crop losses due to late blight are conservatively estimated at $6.7 billion2. Management of this devastating pathogen is challenged by its remarkable speed of adaptation to control strategies such as genetically resistant cultivars3, 4. Here we report the sequence of the P. infestans genome, which at approx240 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 approx74% 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 > QR Microbiology
Divisions:	Faculty of Science > Life Sciences (2010- ) Faculty of Science > Centre for Systems Biology
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Phytophthora infestans -- Genome mapping
Journal or Publication Title:	Nature
Publisher:	Nature Publishing
ISSN:	0028-0836
Official Date:	17 September 2009
Dates:	Date Event 17 September 2009 Published 9 September 2009 Available 31 July 2009 Accepted 23 April 2009 Submitted
Volume:	Volume 461
Number:	Number 7262
Page Range:	pp. 393-398
DOI:	10.1038/nature08358
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Access rights to Published version:	Open Access
Funder:	United States. Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES), National Science Foundation (U.S.) (NSF), Gatsby Charitable Foundation (GCF)
Grant number:	2004-35600-15024 (CSREES), 2006-35600-16623 (CSREES), EF-0333274 (NSF), EF-0523670 (NSF)

Data sourced from Thomson Reuters' Web of Knowledge

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