Illumina Hi-Seq paired-end sequencing and Assembly of Phytophthora melonis.
Phytophthora melonis is a broad host range pathogen causing devastating loss in Cucurbit crops. The rapid adaptation of this pathogen, coupled with a surge in virulence factors makes designing management strategies of this organism difficult. Indian Phytophthora melonis isolate MCC 9865 WB from Pointed gourd, West Bengal, India was sequenced for the first time using short read technology and was assembled with multiple strategies including reference guided assembly resulting in a draft genome with reduced repeat contents. The genome of Phytophthora melonis has more than 53 percent repetitive contents. A comparison of genomes between the four available P. melonis isolates from different hosts suggest unique genomic regions present in MCC 9865 WB isolate are mostly confined to transposable elements. All the isolates exhibit bipartite genome architecture with effectors, secreted CAZymes and other virulent factors housed in the repeat rich gene sparse regions. Apart from housekeeping genes, the enriched genes in P. melonis encode proteins for carbohydrate metabolism and signal transduction, providing further insight into its pathogenic life cycle.