Deng Ke, Zhang Ying, Lv Saibin, Zhang Chulong, Xiao Lihong
College of Forestry and Biotechnology, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou 311300, China.
Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Biology and Ecological Regulation of Crop Pathogens and Insects, College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
J Fungi (Basel). 2025 Mar 5;11(3):203. doi: 10.3390/jof11030203.
Pecan () is a world-renowned nut crop that is highly favored by consumers for its high content of healthy nutrients. For a long time, anthracnose has severely threatened the yield and quality of pecan, causing significant economic losses to the global pecan industry. Here, we report the 54.57-Mb gapless chromosome-level assembly of the pathogenic ascomycetes isolate W-6 from pecan plantations in Southeast China. Six of 12 chromosomes contain, at least, telomeric repeats (CCCTAA)n or (TTAGGG)n at one end. A total of 14,343 protein-coding genes were predicted. Pathogenicity- and virulence-related annotations revealed 137 to 4558 genes associated with the TCDB, PHI, Cyt_P450, DFVF, effector, and secretome databases, respectively. A comparative analysis of isolate W-6, together with 51 other strains, reveled 13 genes unique to the complex to which isolate W-6 belongs, highlighting the major facilitator superfamily transporters. The detailed analyses of MFS transporters associated with secondary metabolite gene clusters in isolate W-6 led to the identification and protein structure analyses of two key virulence factor candidates in DHA1 subclass, prlG and azaK, which were reported as efflux transporters of antibiotics in other pathogenic fungi. The assembly and further functional investigation of two pathogenic genes identified here potentially provide important resources for better understanding the biology and lifestyle of and pave the way for designing more efficient strategies to control anthracnose in pecan plantations.
山核桃是一种世界闻名的坚果作物，因其富含健康营养成分而深受消费者喜爱。长期以来，炭疽病严重威胁着山核桃的产量和品质，给全球山核桃产业造成了重大经济损失。在此，我们报告了来自中国东南部山核桃种植园的致病子囊菌分离株W-6的54.57兆碱基无间隙染色体水平组装。12条染色体中的6条在一端至少含有端粒重复序列（CCCTAA）n或（TTAGGG）n。共预测到14343个蛋白质编码基因。与致病性和毒力相关的注释分别揭示了与TCDB、PHI、Cyt_P450、DFVF、效应子和分泌组数据库相关的137至4558个基因。对分离株W-6与其他51个菌株的比较分析揭示了分离株W-6所属的复合体特有的13个基因，突出了主要促进剂超家族转运蛋白。对分离株W-6中与次生代谢物基因簇相关的MFS转运蛋白的详细分析导致了DHA1亚类中两个关键毒力因子候选物prlG和azaK的鉴定和蛋白质结构分析，它们在其他致病真菌中被报道为抗生素的外排转运蛋白。此处鉴定的两个致病基因的组装和进一步功能研究可能为更好地理解山核桃炭疽病菌的生物学和生活方式提供重要资源，并为设计更有效的山核桃种植园炭疽病防治策略铺平道路。
