The mycoparasitic fungus Clonostachys rosea IK726 (left) overgrows, kills and consumes the plant pathogenic fungus Botrytis cinerea (right). Photo by Mukesh Dubey.

Clonostachys rosea (Link) Schroers, Samuels, Seifert & W. Gams is the anamorph of the teleomorph Bionectria ochroleuca (Schwein.) Schroers & Samuels. The fungus has a cosmopolitan distribution with strains typically isolated from soil, fungi, plant debris and plant parts including roots, leaves and flowers. Isolations from nematodes and insects are also reported. This habitat distribution should be viewed in light of the ecological generalist lifestyle of C. rosea, which include plant endophytism, rhizosphere competence, polyphagous ability and mycoparasitism. The species is recognized for its biocontrol ability against a wide range of plant pathogenic fungi and several commercial products based on C. rosea are available for biocontrol applications worldwide. Strain IK726 was isolated from barley roots in Denmark and is reported to efficiently control plant diseases caused by fungal and oomycete pathogens including Alternaria spp., Bipolaris sorokiniana, Botrytis cinerea, Fusarium spp., Helminthosporium solani, Pythium tracheiphilum and Zymoseptoria tritici. Studies of the biocontrol mechanisms of C. rosea include not only competition, antagonism and parasitism of plant pathogenic species, but also direct interaction with plants triggering induced systemic resistance. Sequencing of the C. rosea IK726 genome will contribute to our understanding of the traits that form the basis of the nutritional versatility that characterizes generalist behaviour in C. rosea, which is tightly connected with its ability to control plant diseases.

The genome sequence and gene models of Clonostachys rosea IK726 were not determined by the Joint Genome Institute (JGI), but were provided by the authors. In order to ensure this genome is comparable to those sequenced by the JGI, we applied filters to remove if present: 1) transposable elements, 2) pseudogenes, 3) alternative transcripts and overlapping models, 4) alleles on secondary scaffolds, and 5) unsupported short models. This resulted in the removal of 1305 models from C. rosea and the generation of the FilteredModels1 gene track. All published models are available in the ExternalModels track. JGI tools were used to automatically annotate predicted proteins. Please note that this copy of the genome is not maintained by NCBI and is therefore not automatically updated.