Deciphering host specificity in poplar rust fungi through life-cycle transcriptomics and comparative genomics
S. DUPLESSIS (1), E. Morin (2), I. Grigoriev (3), S. De Mita (2), F. Halkett (2), P. Frey (2) (1) INRA, France; (2) INRA, France; (3) US DoE Joint Genome Institute, U.S.A.

The genome of the poplar rust fungus Melampsora larici-populina has been sequenced almost 10 years ago by an international consortium in collaboration with the US DoE Joint Genome Institute (JGI). Detailed analysis of the genome content and comparison to the cereal rust Puccinia graminis have revealed the singular profile of rust genomes: large genome size (>80Mb), important content in repeat elements (~45%) and large gene complement (>15,000 genes) with many expanded gene families specific to Pucciniales. Since, these trends have been confirmed in other rust genomes. The genome of M. larici-populina has been instrumental to explore the genetic diversity of the fungus in natural populations and to build a comprehensive transcriptome throughout the lifecycle of the rust fungus and during poplar leaf infection. More recently, a genetic map has been obtained from a self-cross of the reference genome isolate leading to the version 2 of the genome now anchored to 18 linkage groups with a refined annotation. In the frame of the JGI 1000 fungal genome project, we recently sequenced the genome of the poplar rust fungus Melampsora allii-populina which infects poplar as a telial host and monocots such a Allium spp. as aecial hosts, opening great opportunities to decipher the bases of host specificty in heteroecious rust fungi. We will provide an update on poplar rust genomics and an overview of ongoing works to understand the biology of these fascinating and devastating fungi.


Abstract Number: S4-4
Session Type: Special Session