January 1, 2021
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Differential Expression of Fungal Genes Determines the Lifestyle of Plectosphaerella Strains During Arabidopsis thaliana Colonization

Publicated to: MOLECULAR PLANT-MICROBE INTERACTIONS. 33 (11): 1299-1314 - 2020-11-01 33(11), DOI: 10.1094/MPMI-03-20-0057-R

Authors:

Munoz-Barrios, Antonio; Sopena-Torres, Sara; Ramos, Brisa; Lopez, Gemma; del Hierro, Irene; Diaz-Gonzalez, Sandra; Gonzalez-Melendi, Pablo; Melida, Hugo; Fernandez-Calleja, Vanessa; Mixao, Veronica; Martin-Dacal, Marina; Marcet-Houben, Marina; Gabaldon, Toni; Sacristan, Soledad; Molina, Antonio
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Affiliations

Barcelona Inst Sci & Technol, Ctr Genom Regulat CRG, Dr Aiguader 88, Barcelona 08003, Spain - Author
Barcelona Supercomp Ctr, Jordi Girona 29, Barcelona 08034, Spain - Author
ICREA, Pg Lluis Companys 23, Barcelona 08010, Spain - Author
Inst Res Biomed, Jordi Girona 29, Barcelona 08034, Spain - Author
Univ Politecn Madrid UPM, Ctr Biotecnol & Genom Plantas, Inst Nacl Invest & Tecnol Agr & Alimentaria INIA, Campus Montegancedo UPM, Pozuelo De Alarcon 28223, Madrid, Spain - Author
Univ Politecn Madrid, Dept Biotecnol Biol Vegetal, Escuela Tecn Super Ingn Agron Alimentaria & Biosi, Madrid 28040, Spain - Author
Univ Pompeu Fabra UPF, Barcelona 08003, Spain - Author
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Abstract

The fungal genus Plectosphaerella comprises species and strains with different lifestyles on plants, such as P cucumerina, which has served as model for the characterization of Arabidopsis thaliana basal and nonhost resistance to necrotrophic fungi. We have sequenced, annotated, and compared the genomes and transcriptomes of three Plectosphaerella strains with different lifestyles on A. thaliana, namely, PcBMM, a natural pathogen of wild-type plants (Col-0), Pc2127, a nonpathogenic strain on Col-0 but pathogenic on the immunocompromised cyp79B2 cyp79B3 mutant, and P0831, which was isolated from a natural population of A. thaliana and is shown here to be nonpathogenic and to grow epiphytically on Col-0 and cyp79B2 cyp79B3 plants. The genomes of these Plectosphaerella strains are very similar and do not differ in the number of genes with pathogenesis-related functions, with the exception of secreted carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes), which are up to five times more abundant in the pathogenic strain PcBMM. Analysis of the fungal transcriptomes in inoculated Col-0 and cyp79B2 cyp79B3 plants at initial colonization stages confirm the key role of secreted CAZymes in the necrotrophic interaction, since PcBMM expresses more genes encoding secreted CAZymes than Pc2127 and P0831. We also show that P0831 epiphytic growth on A. thaliana involves the transcription of specific repertoires of fungal genes, which might be necessary for epiphytic growth adaptation. Overall, these results suggest that in-planta expression of specific sets of fungal genes at early stages of colonization determine the diverse lifestyles and pathogenicity of Plectosphaerella strains.
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Keywords

Analysis toolkitArabidopsisAscomycotaCarbohydrate-active enzymesCazymeEndophytic fungiEpiphytic fungusGenes, fungalGenomeHeterotrimeric g-proteinImmunityMultiple sequence alignmentNecrotrophNonhost resistancePathogenicityPlant diseasesPlectosphaerellaPlectosporium-tabacinumReceptor-like kinaseWall-degrading enzymes

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal MOLECULAR PLANT-MICROBE INTERACTIONS due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2020, it was in position 37/235, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Plant Sciences.

Independientemente del impacto esperado determinado por el canal de difusión, es importante destacar el impacto real observado de la propia aportación.

Según las diferentes agencias de indexación, el número de citas acumuladas por esta publicación hasta la fecha 2026-04-26:

  • Google Scholar: 8
  • WoS: 10
  • Scopus: 11
  • Europe PMC: 6
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Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2026-04-26:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 28.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 28 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 11.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 19 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.
  • Assignment of a Handle/URN as an identifier within the deposit in the Institutional Repository: https://oa.upm.es/87264/

As a result of the publication of the work in the institutional repository, statistical usage data has been obtained that reflects its impact. In terms of dissemination, we can state that, as of

  • Views: 128
  • Downloads: 19
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Leadership analysis of institutional authors

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (Munoz-Barrios, Antonio) and Last Author (MOLINA FERNANDEZ, ANTONIO).

the authors responsible for correspondence tasks have been SOPEÑA TORRES, SARA, Ramos, Brisa, SACRISTAN BENAYAS, SOLEDAD and MOLINA FERNANDEZ, ANTONIO.

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Awards linked to the item

This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) grant BIO2015-64077-R and the Spanish Research Agency (AEI) grant RTI2018-096975-B-I00 to A. Molina and by the Severo Ochoa Programme for Centers of Excellence in R&D grant SEV-2016-0672 (2017-2021) to the CBGP (UPM-INIA). In the frame of SEV-2016-0672 program, H. Melida was supported with a postdoctoral contract. A. Munoz-Barrios was financially supported by the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid (UPM) Ph.D. students PIF program, I. del Hierro was a FPU fellow (Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports grant FPU16/07118), V. Fernandez-Calleja was supported by the Consejeria de Educacion e Investigacion of Comunidad de Madrid YEI program for postdoctoral researchers (PEJD-2016/BIO-3327), and the work was further supported through a Comunidad de Madrid YEI program for laboratory technicians grant (PEJ16/BIO/TL-1570).
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