Genome Sequencing and Comparative Study Of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense Race 4 and Race 1

Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense (Foc) is a asexual soil-borne fungus threatened the principal fruit crop banana (Musa spp.) and thus be considered as one of the most destructive pathogen in agricultural history. Three races of Foc have been described according to cultivar specificity: race 1 causes wilt disease in Gros Michel with the AAA genome and cultivars such as Pome, Silk and Pisang Awak; race 2 affects ‘Bluggoe’ and related cooking cultivars with ABB genome; while Race 4 isolates affect banana cultivars that are susceptible to races 1 and 2, as well as the commercially significant Cavendish cultivars. However, the sophisticated activities implicated in the host specific invasion events are still poorly understood. In this study, We presented the sequencing and the comparative genomics analysis of these two races of Foc (Foc1 and Foc4) together with Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. lycopersici (Fol), screened out a list of genes which characterized the difference between Foc1 and Foc4, therefore may have a potential association with cultivar-specific invasion. We also investigated the transcriptome expression profiles of Foc1 and Foc4 before and after infecting the Cavendish varieties, and highlighted those differential expression genes which might underlie the genetic basis of pathogenicity. The sequencing and comparative genomics analyzing of Foc1 and Foc4, together with the transcriptome expression profiles of Foc1 and Foc4 before and after invasion, provide us an opportunity to better understand the molecular mechanism of Foc’s virulence and host specificity, thus potentially facilitate the developing of effective control methods for Fusarium wilt of banana.