The multi-speed genome ofFusarium oxysporumreveals association of histone modifications with sequence divergence and footprints of past horizontal chromosome transfer events
Authors: Fokkens Like , Shahi Shermineh , Connolly Lanelle R. , Stam Remco , Schmidt Sarah M. , Smith Kristina M. , Freitag Michael , Rep Martijn 
Published: November 2018

Fusarium oxysporumis an economically important pathogen causing wilting or rotting disease symptoms in a large number of crops. It is proposed to have a structured, “two-speed” genome: i.e. regions containing genes involved in pathogenicity cluster with transposons on separate accessory chromosomes. This is hypothesized to enhance evolvability. Given the continuum of adaptation of all the genes encoded in a genome, however, one would expect a more complex genome structure. By comparing the genome of reference strain Fol4287 to those of 58 otherFusarium oxysporumstrains, we found that some Fol4287 accessory chromosomes are lineage-specific, while others occur in multiple lineages with very high sequence similarity - but only in strains that infect the same host as Fol4287. This indicates that horizontal chromosome transfer has been instrumental in past host-switches. Unexpectedly, we found that the sequence of the three smallest core chromosomes (Chr. 11, 12 and 13) is more divergent than that of the other core chromosomes. Moreover, these chromosomes are enriched in genes involved in metabolism and transport and genes that are differentially regulated during infection. Interestingly, these chromosomes are –like the accessory chromosomes– marked by histone H3 lysine 27 trimethylation (H3K27me3) and depleted in histone H3 lysine 4 dimethylation (H3K4me2). Detailed genomic analyses revealed a complex, “multi-speed genome” structure inFusarium oxysporum. We found a strong association of H3K27me3 with elevated levels of sequence divergence that is independent of the presence of repetitive elements. This provides new leads into how clustering of genes evolving at similar rates could increase evolvability.

Author summary

Fungi that cause disease on plants are an increasingly important threat to food security. New fungal diseases emerge regularly. The agricultural industry makes large investments to breed crops that are resistant to fungal infections, yet rapid adaptation enables fungal pathogens to overcome this resistance within a few years or decades. It has been proposed that genome ‘compartmentalization’ of plant pathogenic fungi, in which infection-related genes are clustered with transposable elements (or ‘jumping genes’) into separate, fast-evolving regions, enhances their adaptivity. Here, we aimed to shed light on the possible interplay between genome organization and adaptation. We measured differences in sequence divergence and dispensability between and within individual chromosomes of the important plant pathogenFusarium oxysporum. Based on these differences we defined four distinct chromosomal categories. We then mapped histone modifications and gene expression levels under different conditions for these four categories. We found a ‘division of labor’ between chromosomes, where some are ‘pathogenicity chromosomes’ - specialized towards infection of a specific host, while others are enriched in genes involved in more generic infection-related processes. Moreover, we confirmed that horizontal transfer of pathogenicity chromosomes likely plays an important role in gain of pathogenicity. Finally, we found that a specific histone modification is associated with increased sequence divergence.