Skip to main content
ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Mycology and Nematology Genetic Diversity and Biology Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #369237
Research Project: Enhancing Plant Protection through Fungal Systematics

Location: Mycology and Nematology Genetic Diversity and Biology Laboratory

Title: Genome sequence of the chestnut blight fungus Cryphonectria parasitica EP155: a fundamental resource for an archetypical invasive plant pathogen

Author
item Crouch, Jo Anne
item DAWE, ANGUS - Mississippi State University
item AERTS, ANDREA - Hudsonalpha Institute For Biotechnology
item CHURCHILL, ALICE - Cornell University
item GRIMWOOD, JANE - Department Of Energy
item HILLMAN, BRADLEY - Rutgers University
item MILGROOM, MICHAEL - Cornell University
item SMITH, MYRON - Carleton University - Canada
item SALAMOV, ASAF - Hudsonalpha Institute For Biotechnology
item SCHMUTZ, JEREMY - Hudsonalpha Institute For Biotechnology
item YADAV, JAGIT - University Of Cincinnati
item GREGORIEV, IGOR - Department Of Energy Joint Genome
item NUSS, DONALD - University Of Maryland

Submitted to: Phytopathology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/10/2020
Publication Date: 3/24/2020
Citation: Crouch, J.A., Dawe, A., Aerts, A., Churchill, A.C., Grimwood, J., Hillman, B.I., Milgroom, M.G., Smith, M., Salamov, A., Schmutz, J., Yadav, J., Gregoriev, I., Nuss, D. 2020. Genome sequence of the chestnut blight fungus Cryphonectria parasitica EP155: a fundamental resource for an archetypical invasive plant pathogen. Phytopathology. 110(6):1180-1188. https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-12-19-0478-A.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-12-19-0478-A

Interpretive Summary: In the course of a single generation, chestnut blight disease destroyed nearly all American chestnut trees in forests across North America. Chestnut blight resulted from the inadvertent introduction of a deadly Asian fungus, driving the American chestnut close to extinction. Now, a century after the chestnut blight fungus first entered the U.S., scientists have developed many new tools and resources that may allow the American chestnut to overcome the disease. However, there are still many significant gaps in our understanding of the chestnut blight fungus. Therefore, a high-quality DNA sequence of the blight fungus' genome was produced and analyzed. This unique dataset of genome information will be used by plant pathologists, breeders and other scientists to further our understanding of this classic forest pathogen.

Technical Abstract: Cryphonectria parasitica is the causal agent of chestnut blight, a fungal disease that almost entirely eliminated mature American chestnut from North America over a 50-year period. Here we formally report the genome of C. parasitica EP155 using a Sanger shotgun sequencing approach. After finishing and integration with 30 SSR markers, the assembly was 43.8 Mb in 26 scaffolds (L50=5; N50=4.0Mb). Eight chromosomes are predicted: five scaffolds have two telomeres and 12 scaffolds have one telomere sequence. A total of 11,609 gene models were predicted, of which 85% show similarities to other proteins. This genome resource has already increased the utility of a fundamental plant pathogen experimental system through new understanding of the fungal vegetative incompatibility system, with significant implications for enhancing mycovirus-based biological control.