Discovery of horizontal chromosome transfer: danger to plants!

Discovery of horizontal chromosome transfer: danger to plants!

Current research at the Christian Albrechts University in Kiel (CAU) opens up new perspectives in the biology of plant pathogens. Ana Cristina Barragán, who worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich, has discovered that the fungus Magnaporthe oryzae can receive chromosomes from related wild grass fungi. This process, known as horizontal chromosome transfer, results in increased pathogenicity of M. oryzae, a major crop pest. Loud uni-kiel.de This evidence significantly changes previous views on the adaptability of plant-damaging fungi.

Horizontal gene transfer, as the process is also known, refers to the passing of genetic information between existing organisms, and thus represents a different mechanism of genetic exchange than vertical transmission from parents to offspring. This type of transfer has been particularly well studied in bacteria, but is only increasingly being researched in fungi. Barragán emphasizes that the insights gained from her research will help develop a better understanding of the evolution of plant diseases.

Research approaches and questions

Barragán's Emmy Noether group will work in a transdisciplinary manner, combining approaches from molecular genetics, chromatin biology, plant pathology, genomics and evolutionary biology. One of the main research questions will address the role of transferred chromosomes in the evolutionary adaptation and pathogenicity of M. oryzae. Other topics include the molecular mechanisms of chromosome transfer between alien fungi and the long-term effects of horizontal gene transfer on the evolution of plant diseases.

The aim is to gain deeper insights into the plasticity of the fungal genome and its adaptability. These findings will be used to develop new strategies for plant protection and improving the resilience of crops. Barragán will work closely with Remco Stam, Professor of Phytopathology at the CAU. The Emmy Noether Program is designed to support young researchers and help them build their own research profile.

New discoveries in the field of plant pathology

A recently published study in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution additionally examined genetic mechanisms affecting clonal lineages of plant pathogens. This work shows that M. oryzae, also known by the synonym Pyricularia oryzae, is capable of horizontal transfer of mini-chromosomes. An example of this is a 1.2 Mb horizontally transferred mini-chromosome that is shared between rice isolates and Indian goosefoot (Eleusine indica). Mini-chromosome transfer events have been documented at least nine times in the last 300 years ( pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov ).

These results support the hypothesis that blast fungal populations infecting wild grasses act as genetic reservoirs for the evolution of epidemic clonal lineages that infect crops. These discoveries demonstrate the importance of the horizontal exchange of genetic information in the adaptation and evolution of plant pathogens.

In summary, Barragán and her team's research makes a crucial contribution to expanding our understanding of horizontal gene transfer. What is particularly important is that these processes are widespread in nature and affect all living organisms, including plants. Given advances in next-generation sequencing, such as those documented in pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, offer new approaches to studying horizontal gene transfer and its biological effects.