Urquhart Andrew S, Forsythe Adrian, Vogan Aaron A
Institute of Organismal Biology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
School of BioScience, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia.
Mol Plant Pathol. 2025 Jul;26(7):e70124. doi: 10.1111/mpp.70124.
New outbreaks of fungal diseases are an ongoing threat to global agriculture. One known mechanism generating novel diseases is the horizontal transfer of genes between fungal species. Yet we have little understanding of how such transfers are mediated. Here, we raise the possibility that Starships, a recently discovered superfamily of giant transposable elements, might be responsible. To support this hypothesis, we discuss three potential cases where Starships may have mediated disease outbreaks. These are ToxA in wheat pathogens, genes underlying Glomerella leaf spot on apple trees, and the defoliating gene cluster of Verticillium dahliae on cotton. In the Verticillium example, we provide strong evidence for a Starship-mediated mechanism: disease-promoting genes reside in closely related Starships across distantly related species. We aim to spark interest in Starships' roles in fungal pathogens and how this knowledge could inform disease management strategies.
新出现的真菌病害对全球农业构成持续威胁。一种已知的产生新病害的机制是真菌物种之间基因的水平转移。然而，我们对这种转移是如何介导的了解甚少。在这里，我们提出一种可能性，即星际飞船（Starships），一种最近发现的巨型转座因子超家族，可能与此有关。为了支持这一假设，我们讨论了三个星际飞船可能介导病害爆发的潜在案例。它们分别是小麦病原体中的ToxA、苹果树炭疽叶枯病的相关基因以及棉花黄萎病菌的落叶基因簇。在黄萎病菌的例子中，我们为星际飞船介导的机制提供了有力证据：促进病害的基因存在于远缘物种中密切相关的星际飞船中。我们旨在激发人们对星际飞船在真菌病原体中的作用以及这些知识如何为病害管理策略提供信息的兴趣。
