Abstract
Monilinia laxa is an important fungal plant pathogen causing brown rot on many stone and pome fruits worldwide. Mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) plays a critical role in evolutionary biology of the organisms. This study aimed to characterize the complete mitogenome of M. laxa by using next-generation sequencing and approaches of de novo assembly and annotation. The total length of the mitogenome of M. laxa was 178,357 bp, and its structure was circular. GC content of the mitogenome was 30.1%. Annotation of the mitogenome presented 2 ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes, 32 transfer RNA genes (tRNA), 1 gene encoding mitochondrial ribosomal protein S3, 14 protein-coding genes and 15 open reading frame encoding hypothetical proteins. Moreover, the group I mobile introns encoding homing endonucleases including LAGLIDADG and GIY-YIG families were found both within coding regions (genic) and intergenic regions of the mitogenome, indicating an enlarged size and a dynamic structure of the mitogenome. Furthermore, a comparative mitogenomic analysis was performed between M. laxa and the three closely related fungal phytopathogen species (Botryotinia fuckeliana, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and, S. borealis). Due to the number and distribution of introns, the large extent of structural rearrangements and diverse mitogenome sizes were detected among the species investigated. Monilinia laxa presented the highest number of homing endonucleases among the fungal species considered in the analyses. This study is the first to report a detailed annotation of the mitogenome of an isolate of M. laxa, providing a solid basis for further investigations of mitogenome variations for the other Monilinia pathogens causing brown rot disease.
Highlights
Monilinia laxa is a well-known plant pathogen that causes brown rot on many stone and pome fruits
The genome had 29 protein-coding genes (PCGs) including open reading frames for hypothetical proteins, and 14 of the coding genes were related to oxidative phosphorylation system and electron transport which were cob, cox[1], cox[2], cox[3], nad[1], nad[2], nad[3], nad[4], nad4L, nad[5], nad[6], atp[6], atp[8], and atp[9] (Fig. 1; Table 1)
More than 700 complete fungal mitochondrial genomes are available, but the mitogenomes of Monilinia species have not been reported in the organelle genome of the NCBI database
Summary
Monilinia laxa is a well-known plant pathogen that causes brown rot on many stone and pome fruits. Mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) harbors useful molecular information that can be used to infer evolutionary relationships among fungal pathogens within the same genus/species and among different t axa[4,5]. Species detection among some Monilinia species was performed using intron size differences within an intron of mitochondrial cytochrome-b gene[6]. Mitochondrial DNA can be circular or linear and usually are characterized by AT enriched content, and their size variation is mostly due to the presence or absence of accessory genes, mobile introns, and different lengths of intergenic r egions[12]. Introns encoding open reading frames have been detected in many fungal mitogenomes[20]. The presence, size, number, distribution, and types of introns highly variable among the fungal s pecies[21]. This study aimed to (i) sequence and characterize the complete mitogenome (of M. laxa, (ii) to determine intron types and distributions, and (iii) to compare mitogenomes of M. laxa and closely related species Botryotinia fuckeliana teleomorph of Botrytis cinerea), Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and, S. borealis to understand variations and dynamic structures of mitogenomes
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