Popov Ilia V, Todorov Svetoslav D, Chikindas Michael L, Venema Koen, Ermakov Alexey M, Popov Igor V
Faculty "Bioengineering and Veterinary Medicine", Don State Technical University, 344000 Rostov-on-Don, Russia.
ProBacLab, Laboratório de Microbiologia de Alimentos, Departamento de Alimentos e Nutrição Experimental, Food Research Center, Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo 05508-000, SP, Brazil.
J Fungi (Basel). 2025 Jul 24;11(8):550. doi: 10.3390/jof11080550.
White-Nose Syndrome (WNS) has devastated insectivorous bat populations, particularly in North America, leading to severe ecological and economic consequences. Despite extensive research, many aspects of the evolutionary history, mitochondrial genome organization, and metabolic adaptations of its etiological agent, , remain unexplored. Here, we present a multi-scale genomic analysis integrating pangenome reconstruction, phylogenetic inference, Bayesian divergence dating, comparative mitochondrial genomics, and refined functional annotation. Our divergence dating analysis reveals that separated from its Antarctic relatives approximately 141 million years ago, before adapting to bat hibernacula in the Northern Hemisphere. Additionally, our refined functional annotation significantly expands the known functional landscape of , revealing an extensive repertoire of previously uncharacterized proteins involved in carbohydrate metabolism and secondary metabolite biosynthesis-key processes that likely contribute to its pathogenic success. By providing new insights into the genomic basis of adaptation and pathogenicity, our study refines the evolutionary framework of this fungal pathogen and creates the foundation for future research on WNS mitigation strategies.
白鼻综合征（WNS）已经对食虫蝙蝠种群造成了严重破坏，尤其是在北美，导致了严重的生态和经济后果。尽管进行了广泛的研究，但其病原体的进化历史、线粒体基因组组织和代谢适应性的许多方面仍未得到探索。在这里，我们展示了一项多尺度基因组分析，该分析整合了泛基因组重建、系统发育推断、贝叶斯分歧年代测定、比较线粒体基因组学和精细的功能注释。我们的分歧年代测定分析表明，[病原体名称]在适应北半球蝙蝠冬眠场所之前，大约在1.41亿年前就与其南极亲属分道扬镳。此外，我们精细的功能注释显著扩展了[病原体名称]已知的功能范围，揭示了大量以前未表征的参与碳水化合物代谢和次生代谢物生物合成的蛋白质——这些关键过程可能有助于其致病成功。通过提供对[病原体名称]适应性和致病性的基因组基础的新见解，我们的研究完善了这种真菌病原体的进化框架，并为未来白鼻综合征缓解策略的研究奠定了基础。
