对一种真菌的基因组测序研究或许能够回答一种病原物为什么能够成为病原物。这种真菌能导致最严重的谷物疾病，并且还能产生可能对人和家畜有生命威胁的毒素。
这种真菌（禾谷镰孢菌，Fusarium graminearum）对小麦和大麦的破坏尤为严重，过去10年在美国造成大约100亿美元的损失。测序了这种真菌基因的研究人员表示，这个基因组将会帮助他们发现到底是什么使得这种特殊的病原物如何有害、是什么起到了散播这种真菌的过程以及为什么不同的真菌攻击特定的作物。
普渡大学的华裔教授徐金荣表示，这些研究还可能有助于研究人员创造出可以完全抵抗这种真菌的作物。徐教授目前正在确定哪些基因使得禾谷镰孢菌引发麦类赤霉病。
在近日的《科学》杂志上，徐教授和他所率领的国际科学家研究组报道说，这种真菌中的特定染色体区域似乎决定了植物和真菌分子相互作用，这种相互作用使这种真菌能够侵染作物并导致疾病的发生。
徐教授领导的研究组定位了这种真菌染色体上的所有基因，然后鉴定出基因的化学组成，即序列。
原始出处:
Science 7 September 2007:
Vol. 317. no. 5843, pp. 1400 - 1402
DOI: 10.1126/science.1143708
The Fusarium graminearum Genome Reveals a Link Between Localized Polymorphism and Pathogen Specialization
Christina A. Cuomo,1 Ulrich Güldener,2,3 Jin-Rong Xu,4 Frances Trail,5 B. Gillian Turgeon,6 Antonio Di Pietro,7 Jonathan D. Walton,5 Li-Jun Ma,1 Scott E. Baker,8 Martijn Rep,9 Gerhard Adam,10 John Antoniw,11 Thomas Baldwin,11 Sarah Calvo,1 Yueh-Long Chang,12 David DeCaprio,1 Liane R. Gale,12 Sante Gnerre,1 Rubella S. Goswami,12 Kim Hammond-Kosack,11 Linda J. Harris,13 Karen Hilburn,14 John C. Kennell,15 Scott Kroken,16 Jon K. Magnuson,8 Gertrud Mannhaupt,3 Evan Mauceli,1 Hans-Werner Mewes,2,3 Rudolf Mitterbauer,10 Gary Muehlbauer,12 Martin Münsterkötter,3 David Nelson,17 Kerry O'Donnell,18 Thérèse Ouellet,13 Weihong Qi,5 Hadi Quesneville,19 M. Isabel G. Roncero,7 Kye-Yong Seong,12 Igor V. Tetko,3,21 Martin Urban,11 Cees Waalwijk,20 Todd J. Ward,18 Jiqiang Yao,4 Bruce W. Birren,1 H. Corby Kistler12,14*
We sequenced and annotated the genome of the filamentous fungus Fusarium graminearum, a major pathogen of cultivated cereals. Very few repetitive sequences were detected, and the process of repeat-induced point mutation, in which duplicated sequences are subject to extensive mutation, may partially account for the reduced repeat content and apparent low number of paralogous (ancestrally duplicated) genes. A second strain of F. graminearum contained more than 10,000 single-nucleotide polymorphisms, which were frequently located near telomeres and within other discrete chromosomal segments. Many highly polymorphic regions contained sets of genes implicated in plant-fungus interactions and were unusually divergent, with higher rates of recombination. These regions of genome innovation may result from selection due to interactions of F. graminearum with its plant hosts.
1 Broad Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA.
2 Technische Universität München, Freising-Weihenstephan, Germany.
3 Institute for Bioinformatics, GSF National Research Center for Environment and Health, Neuherberg, Germany.
4 Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA.
5 Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA.
6 Cornell University, Ithaca,NY14853,USA.
7 Universidad de Córdoba, Córdoba, Spain.
8 Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352, USA.
9 University of Amsterdam, Netherlands.
10 BOKU, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria.
11 Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, UK.
12 University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA.
13 Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
14 U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service, Cereal Disease Laboratory, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA.
15 St. Louis University, St. Louis, MO 63103, USA.
16 University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.
17 University of Tennessee, Memphis, TN 38163, USA.
18 USDA ARS, National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research, Peoria, IL 61604, USA.
19 Institut Jacques Monod, Paris, France.
20 Plant Research International, Wageningen, Netherlands.
21 Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry and Photochemistry, National Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, Kiev, Ukraine.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: hckist@umn.edu
