This genome was sequenced by the Broad
Institute.
Colletotrichum graminicola Ces. Wils. causes anthracnose
stalk rot and leaf blight of maize. Maize is the dominant crop in
the United States, with a value of more than 21 billion dollars in
2005, and a broad range of uses, from animal feed to sweeteners and
fuel. C. graminicola is a major cause of stalk rot
disease, one of the most economically important diseases of maize.
Industry estimates are that stalk rots causes maize yield losses in
the range of 6% annually. C. graminicola is likely to
become an even more serious problem in the future, because it seems
to cause a larger proportion of the stalk rots on maize engineered
with the Bt transgene. C. graminicola also causes a leaf
blight that is becoming increasingly important, particularly in the
tropics and subtropics. C. graminicola is among the best
characterized and most tractable of the Colletotrichum fungi. It is
one of very few in which sexual crosses can be made (the teleomorph
is Glomerella graminicola); it is easily cultured and
stored; transformation and gene disruption are routine; and
pathogenicity assays are straightforward. Maize, its host, is a
classical genetic model as well as an important crop plant.
Sequencing of the entire maize genome began in 2005 and should be
completed soon. In 2006, the USDA/National Science Foundation
Microbial Genome Sequencing Project National Research Initiative
funded a project to sequence the genome of C. graminicola.
C. graminicola strain M1.001 (also known as M2) is the
first member of the Colletotrichum genus to be fully
sequenced. C. graminicola strain M5.001 was sequenced to
about 1X coverage by a research team at DuPont Nemours Inc. The
sequence data were generously donated to the public by DuPont in
2008.
Genome Reference(s)
O'Connell RJ, Thon MR, Hacquard S, Amyotte SG, Kleemann J, Torres MF, Damm U, Buiate EA, Epstein L, Alkan N, Altmüller J, Alvarado-Balderrama L, Bauser CA, Becker C, Birren BW, Chen Z, Choi J, Crouch JA, Duvick JP, Farman MA, Gan P, Heiman D, Henrissat B, Howard RJ, Kabbage M, Koch C, Kracher B, Kubo Y, Law AD, Lebrun MH, Lee YH, Miyara I, Moore N, Neumann U, Nordström K, Panaccione DG, Panstruga R, Place M, Proctor RH, Prusky D, Rech G, Reinhardt R, Rollins JA, Rounsley S, Schardl CL, Schwartz DC, Shenoy N, Shirasu K, Sikhakolli UR, Stüber K, Sukno SA, Sweigard JA, Takano Y, Takahara H, Trail F, van der Does HC, Voll LM, Will I, Young S, Zeng Q, Zhang J, Zhou S, Dickman MB, Schulze-Lefert P, Ver Loren van Themaat E, Ma LJ, Vaillancourt LJ
Lifestyle transitions in plant pathogenic Colletotrichum fungi deciphered by genome and transcriptome analyses.
Nat Genet. 2012 Sep;44(9):1060-5. doi: 10.1038/ng.2372