Entoleuca mammata (Wahlenberg) J. D. Rogers & Y. M. Ju (Fungi, Ascomycota, Sordariomycetes, Xylariaceae) causes hypoxylon canker, a damaging disease that affects hardwoods, most commonly poplar and willow. Trees with main stem cankers usually die within 5 years or are structurally weakened and break in the wind. Annual losses are estimated at 30% of the net growth of aspen in some regions in North America.
Attacks by pathogens represent one of the most important threats to the sustainable growth of bioenergy trees in plantations. Outbreak prevention depends largely on a better understanding of how pathogens infect trees so that resistance can be developed and on early detection, monitoring and surveillance to prevent spread. Since pathogens of poplars and pines tend to track their hosts worldwide, we must do a better job at detection and surveillance. This can be challenging since pathogens can remain dormant or have endophytic stages in the host tissues. The genome sequencing of Entoleuca mammata is part of a larger effort, the Pathobiome Database For Bioenergy Trees Project, that aims at sequencing the genomes of multiple pathogens that share the same host trees in order to identify common and unique genomic signatures. By sequencing and comparing the genomes of the most important pathogens of poplars and pines, we plan to create a database that will be used to develop tools for the detection, monitoring, surveillance and rapid response of pathogens in these economically and ecologically important trees.