De novo genome assembly of Geosmithia morbida, the causal agent of thousand cankers disease
- Published
- Accepted
- Subject Areas
- Genomics, Mycology
- Keywords
- pathogenesis, black walnut, forest pathogen, walnut twig beetle., de novo genome assembly
- Copyright
- © 2016 Aggarwal et al.
- Licence
- This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ PrePrints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
- Cite this article
- 2016. De novo genome assembly of Geosmithia morbida, the causal agent of thousand cankers disease. PeerJ PrePrints 4:e1671v1 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.1671v1
Abstract
Geosmithia morbida is a filamentous ascomycete that causes Thousand Cankers Disease in the eastern black walnut tree. This pathogen is commonly found in the western U.S.; however, recently the disease was also detected in several eastern states where the black walnut lumber industry is concentrated. G. morbida is one of two known phytopathogens within the genus Geosmithia, and it is vectored into the host tree via the walnut twig beetle. We present the first de novo draft genome of G. morbida. It is 26.5 Mbp in length and contains less than 1% repetitive elements. The genome possesses an estimated 6,273 genes, 277 of which are predicted to encode proteins with unknown functions. Approximately 31.5% of the proteins in G. morbida are homologous to proteins involved in pathogenicity, and 5.6% of the proteins contain signal peptides that indicate these proteins are secreted. Several studies have investigated the evolution of pathogenicity in pathogens of agricultural crops; forest fungal pathogens are often neglected because research efforts are focused on food crops. G. morbida is one of the few tree phytopathogens to be sequenced, assembled and annotated. The first draft genome of G. morbida serves as a valuable tool for comprehending the underlying molecular and evolutionary mechanisms behind pathogenesis within the Geosmithia genus.
Keywords: de novo genome assembly, pathogenesis, forest pathogen, black walnut, walnut twig beetle.
Author Comment
This is a submission to PeerJ for review.