PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Xiaoqian Shi-Kunne
AU  - Mathijs van Kooten
AU  - Jasper R.L. Depotter
AU  - Bart P.H.J. Thomma
AU  - Michael F. Seidl
TI  - The genome of the fungal pathogen <em>Verticillium dahliae</em> reveals extensive bacterial to fungal gene transfer
AID  - 10.1101/485037
DP  - 2018 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 485037
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/12/03/485037.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/12/03/485037.full
AB  - Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) involves the transmission of genetic material between distinct evolutionary lineages and can be an important source of biological innovation. Reports of inter-kingdom HGT to eukaryotic microbial pathogens have accumulated over recent years. Verticillium dahliae is a notorious plant pathogen that causes vascular wilt disease on hundreds of plant species, resulting in high economic losses every year. Previously, the effector gene Ave1 and a glucosyltransferase-encoding gene were identified as virulence factor-encoding genes that were proposed to be horizontally acquired from a plant and a bacterial donor, respectively. However, to what extent HGT contributed to the overall genome composition of V. dahliae remained elusive. Here, we systematically searched for evidence of inter-kingdom HGT events in the genome of V. dahliae and provide evidence for extensive horizontal gene acquisition from bacterial origin.