Comparative Genomics of yeast adaptation to the phyllosphere
The microbiome of the above-ground part of the plant is in direct contact with the harsh phyllosphere environment. This demands phyllosphere microorganisms, including yeasts, to adapt to varying (a)biotic stresses. Most of these adaptations, i.e. the production of killer toxins, secondary metabolite production and oscillating nutrient availability among others, are presumed to be encoded in the eukaryotic DNA. Therefore, Illumina and Nanopore sequencing were combined to obtain high quality genomes of a previously described selection of phyllosphere yeasts (Gouka et al., 2022). These genomes, together with already deposited phyllosphere yeast genomes, will be used to perform pan-genome analysis against yeasts from different environments (i.e. soil, clinical, water) to identify critical biosynthetic gene families that allow phyllosphere yeasts to adapt to the challenging environment. This comparative analysis will facilitate further exploration of the ecology of yeasts, and will link to candidate genes responsible for adaptive traits.