Genome sequence and analysis of the Irish potato famine pathogen Phytophthora infestans.

Phytophthora infestans is the most destructive pathogen of potato and a model organism for the oomycetes, a distinct lineage of fungus-like eukaryotes that are related to organisms such as brown algae and diatoms. As the agent of the Irish potato famine in the mid-nineteenth century, P. infestans has had a tremendous effect on human history, resulting in famine and population displacement. To this day, it affects world agriculture by causing the most destructive disease of potato, the fourth largest food crop and a critical alternative to the major cereal crops for feeding the world's population. Current annual worldwide potato crop losses due to late blight are conservatively estimated at $6.7 billion. Management of this devastating pathogen is challenged by its remarkable speed of adaptation to control strategies such as genetically resistant cultivars. Here we report the sequence of the P. infestans genome, which at approximately 240 megabases (Mb) is by far the largest and most complex genome sequenced so far in the chromalveolates. Its expansion results from a proliferation of repetitive DNA accounting for approximately 74% of the genome. Comparison with two other Phytophthora genomes showed rapid turnover and extensive expansion of specific families of secreted disease effector proteins, including many genes that are induced during infection or are predicted to have activities that alter host physiology. These fast-evolving effector genes are localized to highly dynamic and expanded regions of the P. infestans genome. This probably plays a crucial part in the rapid adaptability of the pathogen to host plants and underpins its evolutionary potential.

Immune gene expression in trout cell lines infected with the fish pathogenic oomycete Saprolegnia parasitica.

The oomycete Saprolegnia parasitica causes significant losses in the aquaculture industry, mainly affecting salmon, trout and catfish. Since the ban of malachite green, effective control measures are currently not available prompting a re-evaluation of the potential for immunological intervention. In this study, the immune response of salmonid cells is investigated at the transcript level, by analysis of a large set of immune response genes in four different rainbow trout cell lines (RTG-2, RTGill, RTL and RTS11) upon infection with S. parasitica. Proinflammatory cytokine transcripts were induced in all four cell lines, including IL-1ß1, IL-8, IL-11, TNF-α2, as well as other components of the innate defences, including COX-2, the acute phase protein serum amyloid A and C-type lectin CD209a and CD209b. However, differences between the four cell lines were found. For example, the fold change of induction was much higher in the epithelial RTL and macrophage-like RTS11 cell lines compared to the fibroblast cell lines RTG-2 and RTGill. Several antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) were also up-regulated in response to Saprolegnia infection, including hepcidin and cathelicidin 1 (rtCATH1) and 2 (rtCATH2). An rtCATH2 peptide was synthesised and tested for activity and whilst it showed no killing activity for zoospores, it was able to delay sporulation of S. parasitica. These results demonstrate that particular immune genes are up-regulated in response to S. parasitica infection and that AMPs may play a crucial role in the first line of defence against oomycetes in fish.