Li Boqiang, Zong Yuanyuan, Du Zhenglin, Chen Yong, Zhang Zhanquan, Qin Guozheng, Zhao Wenming, Tian Shiping
1 Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China;
2 Core Genomic Facility, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Mol Plant Microbe Interact. 2015 Jun;28(6):635-47. doi: 10.1094/MPMI-12-14-0398-FI. Epub 2015 Jun 23.
Penicillium species are fungal pathogens that infect crop plants worldwide. P. expansum differs from P. italicum and P. digitatum, all major postharvest pathogens of pome and citrus, in that the former is able to produce the mycotoxin patulin and has a broader host range. The molecular basis of host-specificity of fungal pathogens has now become the focus of recent research. The present report provides the whole genome sequence of P. expansum (33.52 Mb) and P. italicum (28.99 Mb) and identifies differences in genome structure, important pathogenic characters, and secondary metabolite (SM) gene clusters in Penicillium species. We identified a total of 55 gene clusters potentially related to secondary metabolism, including a cluster of 15 genes (named PePatA to PePatO), that may be involved in patulin biosynthesis in P. expansum. Functional studies confirmed that PePatL and PePatK play crucial roles in the biosynthesis of patulin and that patulin production is not related to virulence of P. expansum. Collectively, P. expansum contains more pathogenic genes and SM gene clusters, in particular, an intact patulin cluster, than P. italicum or P. digitatum. These findings provide important information relevant to understanding the molecular network of patulin biosynthesis and mechanisms of host-specificity in Penicillium species.
青霉属真菌是感染全球农作物的病原菌。扩展青霉与意大利青霉和指状青霉不同，后两者是梨果和柑橘采后主要病原菌，前者能够产生霉菌毒素棒曲霉素且宿主范围更广。真菌病原菌宿主特异性的分子基础现已成为近期研究的焦点。本报告提供了扩展青霉（33.52 Mb）和意大利青霉（28.99 Mb）的全基因组序列，并鉴定了青霉属真菌在基因组结构、重要致病特征和次生代谢物（SM）基因簇方面的差异。我们总共鉴定出55个可能与次生代谢相关的基因簇，其中包括一个由15个基因组成的簇（命名为PePatA至PePatO），可能参与扩展青霉中棒曲霉素的生物合成。功能研究证实，PePatL和PePatK在棒曲霉素的生物合成中起关键作用，且棒曲霉素的产生与扩展青霉的毒力无关。总体而言，扩展青霉比意大利青霉或指状青霉含有更多的致病基因和SM基因簇，特别是一个完整的棒曲霉素簇。这些发现为理解青霉属真菌中棒曲霉素生物合成的分子网络和宿主特异性机制提供了重要信息。
