An ordered collection of expressed sequences from Cryphonectria parasitica and evidence of genomic microsynteny with Neurospora crassa and Magnaporthe grisea

Cryphonectria parasitica, the causative agent of chestnut blight, has proven to be a tractable experimental system for studying fungal pathogenesis. Moreover, the development of infectious cDNA clones of C. parasitica hypoviruses, capable of attenuating fungal virulence, has provided the opportunity to examine molecular aspects of fungal plant pathogenesis in the context of biological control. In order to establish a genomic base for future studies of C. parasitica, the authors have analysed a collection of expressed sequences. A mixed cDNA library was prepared from RNA isolated from wild-type (virus-free) and hypovirus-infected C. parasitica strains. Plasmid DNA was recovered from individual transformants and sequenced from the 5' end of the insert. Contig analysis of the collected sequences revealed that they represented approximately 2200 individual ORFs. An assessment of functional diversity present in this collection was achieved by using the BLAST software utilities and the NCBI protein database. Candidate genes were identified with significant potential relevance to C. parasitica growth, development, pathogenesis and vegetative incompatibility. Additional investigations of a 12.9 kbp genomic region revealed microsynteny between C. parasitica and both Neurospora crassa and Magnaporthe grisea, two closely related fungi. These data represent the largest collection of sequence information currently available for C. parasitica and are now forming the basis of further studies using microarray analyses to determine global changes in transcription that occur in response to hypovirus infection.