title: Tools to kill: genome of one of the most destructive plant pathogenic fungi Macrophomina phaseolina.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Macrophomina phaseolina is one of the most destructive necrotrophic fungal pathogens that infect more than 500 plant species throughout the world. It can grow rapidly in infected plants and subsequently produces a large amount of sclerotia that plugs the vessels, resulting in wilting of the plant.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We sequenced and assembled ~49 Mb into 15 super-scaffolds covering 92.83% of the M. phaseolina genome. We predict 14,249 open reading frames (ORFs) of which 9,934 are validated by the transcriptome. This phytopathogen has an abundance of secreted oxidases, peroxidases, and hydrolytic enzymes for degrading cell wall polysaccharides and lignocelluloses to penetrate into the host tissue. To overcome the host plant defense response, M. phaseolina encodes a significant number of P450s, MFS type membrane transporters, glycosidases, transposases, and secondary metabolites in comparison to all sequenced ascomycete species. A strikingly distinct set of carbohydrate esterases (CE) are present in M. phaseolina, with the CE9 and CE10 families remarkably higher than any other fungi. The phenotypic microarray data indicates that M. phaseolina can adapt to a wide range of osmotic and pH environments. As a broad host range pathogen, M. phaseolina possesses a large number of pathogen-host interaction genes including those for adhesion, signal transduction, cell wall breakdown, purine biosynthesis, and potent mycotoxin patulin.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The M. phaseolina genome provides a framework of the infection process at the cytological and molecular level which uses a diverse arsenal of enzymatic and toxin tools to destroy the host plants. Further understanding of the M. phaseolina genome-based plant-pathogen interactions will be instrumental in designing rational strategies for disease control, essential to ensuring global agricultural crop production and security.
authors.affiliation: Basic and Applied Research on Jute Project, Bangladesh Jute Research Institute, Manik Mia Avenue, Dhaka 1207, Bangladesh.
authors.forename: Md Shahidul
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Islam
authors.forename: Md Samiul
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Haque
authors.forename: Mohammad Moinul
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Islam
authors.forename: Emdadul Mannan
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Emdad
authors.forename: Abdul
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Halim
authors.forename: Quazi Md Mosaddeque
authors.initials: QM
authors.lastname: Hossen
authors.forename: Md Zakir
authors.initials: MZ
authors.lastname: Hossain
authors.forename: Borhan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.forename: Sifatur
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rahim
authors.forename: Md Sharifur
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Rahman
authors.forename: Md Monjurul
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Alam
authors.forename: Shaobin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.forename: Xuehua
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.forename: Jennifer A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: Maqsudul
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Alam
mesh_terms: D001203:Ascomycota / Q000235:genetics*; D016681:Genome, Fungal / Q000235:genetics*; D016366:Open Reading Frames / Q000235:genetics; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D059467:Transcriptome / Q000235:genetics