New Raffaelea species (Ophiostomatales) from the USA and Taiwan associated with ambrosia beetles and plant hosts

Simmons, D. Rabern; Beer, Z. Wilhelm de; Huang, Yin-Tse; Bateman, Craig; Campbell, Alina; Dreaden, Tyler J.; Li, You; Ploetz, R. C.; Black, Adam; Li, Hou-Feng; Chen, Chi-Yu; Wingfield, Michael J.; Hulcr, Jiří

doi:10.5598/imafungus.2016.07.02.06

Cited by 33 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Previous studies have disagreed about whether the ambrosia fungi genus Raffaelea is monophyletic (Farrell et al., ; Harrington, Aghayeva, & Fraedrich, ; Massoumi Alamouti et al., ; Ploetz, Hulcr, Wingfield, & de Beer, ) or polyphyletic (de Beer & Wingfield, ; Dreaden et al., ; Musvuugwa et al., ; Simmons et al., ). The rapid radiation at the base of the Ophiostomatales, compounded by limited data, made it impossible for these studies to confidently resolve deep nodes among major clades within the group.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Know your farmer: Ancient origins and multiple independent domestications of ambrosia beetle fungal cultivars

2017

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Bark and ambrosia beetles are highly specialized weevils (Curculionidae) that have established diverse symbioses with fungi, most often from the order Ophiostomatales (Ascomycota, Sordariomycetes). The two types of beetles are distinguished by their feeding habits and intimacy of interactions with their symbiotic fungi. The tree tissue diet of bark beetles is facilitated by fungi, while ambrosia beetles feed solely on fungi that they farm. The farming life history strategy requires domestication of a fungus, which the beetles consume as their sole food source. Ambrosia beetles in the subfamily Platypodinae originated in the mid-Cretaceous (119-88 Ma) and are the oldest known group of farming insects. However, attempts to resolve phylogenetic relationships and the timing of domestication events for fungal cultivars have been largely inconclusive. We sequenced the genomes of 12 ambrosia beetle fungal cultivars and bark beetle associates, including the devastating laurel wilt pathogen, Raffaelea lauricola, to estimate a robust phylogeny of the Ophiostomatales. We find evidence for contemporaneous diversification of the beetles and their associated fungi, followed by three independent domestication events of the ambrosia fungi genus Raffaelea. We estimate the first domestication of an Ophiostomatales fungus occurred ~86 Ma, 25 million years earlier than prior estimates and in close agreement with the estimated age of farming in the Platypodinae (96 Ma). Comparisons of the timing of fungal domestication events with the timing of beetle radiations support the hypothesis that the first large beetle radiations may have spread domesticated "ambrosia" fungi to other fungi-associated beetle groups, perhaps facilitating the evolution of new farming lineages.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…or polyphyleticDreaden et al, 2014;Musvuugwa et al, 2015;Simmons et al, 2016). The rapid radiation at the base of the Ophiostomatales, compounded by limited data, made it impossible for these studies to confidently resolve deep nodes among major clades within the group.…”

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confidence: 99%

Know your farmer: Ancient origins and multiple independent domestications of ambrosia beetle fungal cultivars

2017

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“…To test and distinguish between these two hypotheses and better understand the adaptations present in pathogenic relative to non-pathogenic Raffaelea spp., we generated, annotated, and compared high-quality draft genome assemblies of the pathogenic R. lauricola (isolate RL4) and a closely related non-pathogenic species R. aguacate (isolate PL1004), recovered from a dead avocado tree (Persea americana) in Florida [35]. R. aguacate PL1004 resembles R. lauricola morphologically, is phylogenetically closely related to R. lauricola [36], is a nutritional symbiont of ambrosia beetles that transmit R. lauricola and associates with avocado but is not pathogenic. Comparative genomic analysis between R. lauricola RL4 and R. aguacate PL1004 has the potential to reveal shared and unique genes between the two species and determine if an enrichment for pathogenicity-associated genes exists within R. lauricola consistent with the hypothesis of adapted pathogenesis.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genomic and transcriptomic insights into Raffaelea lauricola pathogenesis

Zhang

Vanderpool

et al. 2020

BMC Genomics

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Background: Laurel wilt caused by Raffaelea lauricola is a lethal vascular disease of North American members of the Lauraceae plant family. This fungus and its primary ambrosia beetle vector Xyleborus glabratus originated from Asia; however, there is no report of laurel wilt causing widespread mortality on native Lauraceae trees in Asia. To gain insight into why R. lauricola is a tree-killing plant pathogen in North America, we generated and compared high quality draft genome assemblies of R. lauricola and its closely related non-pathogenic species R. aguacate. Results: Relative to R. aguacate, the R. lauricola genome uniquely encodes several small-secreted proteins that are associated with virulence in other pathogens and is enriched in secondary metabolite biosynthetic clusters, particularly polyketide synthase (PKS), non-ribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) and PKS-NRPS anchored gene clusters. The two species also exhibit significant differences in secreted proteins including CAZymes that are associated with polysaccharide binding including the chitin binding CBM50 (LysM) domain. Transcriptomic comparisons of inoculated redbay trees and in vitro-grown fungal cultures further revealed a number of secreted protein genes, secondary metabolite clusters and alternative sulfur uptake and assimilation pathways that are coordinately up-regulated during infection. Conclusions: Through these comparative analyses we have identified potential adaptations of R. lauricola that may enable it to colonize and cause disease on susceptible hosts. How these adaptations have interacted with coevolved hosts in Asia, where little to no disease occurs, and non-co-evolved hosts in North America, where lethal wilt occurs, requires additional functional analysis of genes and pathways.

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“…Raffaelea now includes 30 described species ( De Beer & Wingfield 2013 , Musvuugwa et al . 2015 , Simmons et al . 2016 ) together with many taxa treated only as “ Raffaelea sp.” and yet to be described ( Simmons et al .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A new species of Raffaelea from beetle-infested Leucaena leucocephala

Procter

Nel

Marincowitz³

et al. 2020

Fungal Systematics and Evolution

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Species of Raffaelea (Ophiostomatales: Ascomycota) are obligate symbionts of ambrosia beetles, some of which pose a substantial threat to forest trees. Leucaena leucocephala is a small mimosoid tree species that is considered as an invasive weed in most of its introduced range globally. During a field expedition on the French island of Réunion, dying L. leucocephala trees were observed. Samples were taken from these trees and isolations made from symptomatic wood tissues that included beetle tunnels, but in the absence of the beetles themselves. Multiple isolates of a fungus resembling a Raffaelea species were obtained from the discoloured wood associated with the beetle tunnels. To determine their identity, microscopic examination was performed and DNA sequences for three gene regions (ITS, LSU, TUB) were obtained. Phylogenetic analyses based on these gene regions revealed that the isolates represent a new species of Raffaelea, described here as R. borbonica sp. nov. A pathogenicity test was conducted with the fungus, which was shown to cause lesions on the inoculated seedlings, but with a low level of aggressiveness.

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New Raffaelea species (Ophiostomatales) from the USA and Taiwan associated with ambrosia beetles and plant hosts

Cited by 33 publications

References 29 publications

Know your farmer: Ancient origins and multiple independent domestications of ambrosia beetle fungal cultivars

Know your farmer: Ancient origins and multiple independent domestications of ambrosia beetle fungal cultivars

Genomic and transcriptomic insights into Raffaelea lauricola pathogenesis

A new species of Raffaelea from beetle-infested Leucaena leucocephala

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