Genomics of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum

Abstract

Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is an ascomycete fungal plant pathogen that causes several diseases on a considerable number of broadleaf, economically important crop plants. In particular, under favorable environmental conditions, there are no effective controls or management strategies for diseases caused by S. sclerotiorum, presenting a worldwide threat to food security. In order to better understand mechanisms that underlie and mediate pathogenic success of this fungus the genome sequence of S. sclerotiorum was generated, assembled and annotated using a strategy of Sanger sequencing coupled with optical chromosome mapping, expressed sequence tag mapping, and automated and manual annotation. Structurally, the sequence encompasses 38 Megabase pairs across 37 scaffolds corresponding to 16 chromosomes, and a predicted 11,860 protein encoding genes. This represents a very high quality assembly that has facilitated genome annotation, functional genomic experimentation, population genetic analyses, and comparative genomic analysis with the closely related necrotroph Botrytis cinerea. In this chapter, we provide an overview of the notable aspects of the genome structure, life cycle, and basis of pathogenesis, and discuss future challenges and opportunities for applying this genome data as a resource for managing disease and understanding the evolution of necrotrophic pathogenicity.