The complete genome of Fusarium musae strain F31, pathogen of banana fruits

F. musae is a recently described species belonging to Fusarium Fujikuroi Species Complex and sister to F. verticillioides. It causes crown rot on banana fruits and it can also be opportunistic human pathogen. By exploring its genome we aim to explore diversities that might facilitate the identification of F. musae species within the genus Fusarium. Identification of pathogenic genes and comparative genomic studies could help us to understand peculiarities of this pathogen. We obtained complete genome at chromosome level of the representative strain of F. musae F31, isolated in 2013 in Dominican Republic from a diseased banana. The genome is 44.07Mb, divided into 12 chromosomes (11 have both telomers), the circular mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and one unplaced contig. Functional annotation led to a total of 13,963 annotated genes, of which 13,661 were proteins and 302 transfer RNA (tRNA) for nuclear DNA. EffectorP 3.0 estimated the presence of 214 effectors (probability 0.9 or higher) and antiSMASH (version 6.1.1) analysis predicted 44 secondary metabolite clusters. F31 potentially produces mycotoxins typical of Fusarium species such as fusarin and fusaric acid but also pigments such as fusarubin and bikaverin. The fumonisin biosynthesis gene cluster, distinctive of F. verticillioides strains, is absent in F. musae, whereas a gibberellin biosynthesis gene cluster is present (usually absent in its “sister species”). Genome data allowed the generation of fluorescent F. musae reporter strains expressing E2-Crimson under control of the constitutively active F. musae enolase promoter Peno1. Reporter strains will be used to explore the infection mechanism in bananas.