Abstracts of Presentations at ICPP2018: Analysis of Fusarium graminearum pangenome

Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) technologies allow the capture of the entire genomic sequence present within a species, known as the species pangenome. Here we show the analysis of the pangenome of Fusarium graminearum (Fg), a major fungal pathogen of wheat. We sequenced 15 telomere-to-telomere genomes of Fg strains from Brazil and added five publicly available Fg genomes into the analysis. In total, 14,798 genes were identified to comprise the pangenome, of which 1111 (~7%) represent accessory genes exclusive to a subset of isolates. The latest version of the genome for Fg reference PH-1 strain contains 14,160 genes. Therefore, over 600 genes are predicted to be new genes calls, where more than half lack predicted annotation. Ten new secondary metabolites clusters were identified. These are present in at least one Fg strain. Six of these clusters are exclusive to one or more Brazilian strains. Single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analyses have been carried out to compare SNP density and differences between core and variable genes with respect to synonymous/ nonsynonymous/ nonsense SNPs. This new genomic resource can be used to retrieve biologically relevant information and thereby identify and assess the contribution of the accessory genome to adaptive evolution and phenotypic variation among different Fg strains.