Oral: Fungal Pathogenicity
28-O
Comparative Genomics of Two Magnaporthe oryzae Field Isolates Uncovers Novel Candidate Effector Genes
J. HUANG (1), J. Huang (1), Y. Hong (1), L. Xu (1), M. Chen (1), Z. Zhong (1), X. Chen (1), H. Zheng (1), J. Bao (1), Z. Wang (1) (1) Fujian-Taiwan Joint Center for Ecological Control of Crop Pests, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, Chin
During the colonization process, rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae secrets a repertoire of effectors into host tissue to overcome immunity and facilitate invasive growth. To better understand the biological functions of these complicated and diverse effectors, two field isolates Guy11 and FJ81278 were re-sequenced, and isolate-unique secreted proteins were identified through comparative genomics. When comparing with each other, 37 and 18 unique genes encoding secreted proteins were obtained in the genome of Guy11 and FJ81278, respectively. Consistent with the known effector features, the majority of these proteins are small, cysteine-rich, specifically expressed at the early stage of infectious process, and possessed presence or absence polymorphisms among different field isolates. Meanwhile, due to the different origin of Guy11 and FJ81278, the two sets of unique genes owned the diverse distribution patterns in the strains isolated from different rice varieties (Oryza sativa ssp. indica and japonica). Furthermore, we have identified two unique proteins could suppress BAX-triggered programmed cell death in Nicotiana benthamiana so far, which indicated they are novel effectors. In conclusion, our comparative genomics approach is effective to generate a list of unique genes which could be candidate effectors and identify the novel effector genes. *To whom correspondence may be addressed. E-mail: wangzh@fafu.edu.cn