Herbarium specimen sequencing allows precise dating of Xanthomonas citri pv. citri diversification history.

ABSTRACT: Herbarium collections are an important source of dated, identified and preserved DNA, whose use in comparative genomics and phylogeography can shed light on the emergence and evolutionary history of plant pathogens. Here, we reconstruct 13 historical genomes of the bacterial crop pathogen Xanthomonas citri pv. citri (Xci) from infected Citrus herbarium specimens. Following authentication based on ancient DNA damage patterns, we compare them with a large set of modern genomes to estimate their phylogenetic relationships, pathogenicity-associated gene content and several evolutionary parameters. Our results indicate that Xci originated in Southern Asia ~11,500 years ago (perhaps in relation to Neolithic climate change and the development of agriculture) and diversified during the beginning o

SUBMITTER: Campos PE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10359311 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature