The Hidden Truths of Fungal Virulence and Adaptation on Hosts: Unraveling the Conditional Dispensability of Minichromosomes in the Hemibiotrophic Colletotrichum Pathogens.

ABSTRACT: Colletotrichum spp. are ascomycete fungi and cause anthracnose disease in numerous crops of economic significance. The genomes of these fungi are distributed among ten core chromosomes and two to three minichromosomes. While the core chromosomes regulate fungal growth, development and virulence, the extent to which the minichromosomes are involved in these processes is still uncertain. Here, we discuss the minichromosomes of three hemibiotrophic Colletotrichum pathogens, i.e., C. graminicola, C. higginsianum and C. lentis. These minichromosomes are typically less than one megabase in length, characterized by containing higher repetitive DNA elements, lower GC content, higher frequency of repeat-induced point mutations (RIPMs) and sparse gene distribution.

SUBMITTER: Bhadauria V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10779208 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature