Identification of the MAT1 locus in Stagonosporopsis tanaceti, and exploring its potential for sexual reproduction in Australian pyrethrum fields.
Stagonosporopsis chrysanthemi, S. inoxydabilis, and S. tanaceti are closely related Ascomycetes associated with ray blight of the Asteraceae. To date, only S. tanaceti has been identified in Australia, incurring substantial losses to the pyrethrum industry. In contrast to the homothallic S. chrysanthemi and S. inoxydabilis, a sexual state has not been observed for S. tanaceti. The MAT1 locus in S. tanaceti was identified through de novo assembly of shotgun reads, and was further used to develop primers for amplification of the full-length MAT1/2 locus in S. chrysanthemi and S. inoxydabilis. As expected, S. chrysanthemi and S. inoxydabilis possessed a MAT1/2 locus typical of homothallic Dothideomycetes with two adjacent MAT1-1 and MAT1-2 idiomorphs. However, only MAT1-1 could be detected in the assembled genome of S. tanaceti. Although a sexual mode of reproduction cannot be ruled out for S. tanaceti, evidence so far suggests this is absent or occurring at very low frequency in Australian pyrethrum fields.
Melbourne School of Land and Environment, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia.
Niloofar
N
Vaghefi
Melbourne School of Land and Environment, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia.
Peter K
PK
Ades
Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture, University of Tasmania, Burnie, TAS 7320, Australia.
Frank S
FS
Hay
The New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research Ltd., Lincoln, Christchurch, 8140, New Zealand.
Sarah J
SJ
Pethybridge
Melbourne School of Land and Environment, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia.
R
R
Ford
Melbourne School of Land and Environment, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia. Electronic address: pwjtaylor@unimelb.edu.au.
Paul W J
PW
Taylor
D001203:Ascomycota / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000502:physiology; D001315:Australia; D011723:Chrysanthemum cinerariifolium / Q000382:microbiology*; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D049770:Genes, Mating Type, Fungal; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D012098:Reproduction
D005656:Fungal Proteins
Chrysanthemi; Didymellaceae; Inoxydabilis; Mating type; Ray blight