The first two Fusarium verticillioides genomes from human patients: a genomic overwiew

Fusarium verticillioides (FV) is a prominent plant pathogen that occasionally causes human fusariosis. Here, we present the first genome assemblies of two FV strains isolated from clinical settings: FV_05-0160 from an immunocompromised patient post bone-marrow transplantation, and FV_IUM09_1037 from a patient's blood. The genomes were analyzed on the European GALAXY platform, including read quality checks, filtering, nuclear and mitochondrial DNA assembly, and completeness assessment, followed by annotation using Augustus(funannotate?!?!?!) with FV 7600 as a reference. The clinical strain genomes were 1.5-2.3 Mb larger than the reference FV 7600 genome (41.5 Mb..controllare..) Phylogenetic analysis (ML phylogenetic tree, FastANI alignment, and MASH comparison) showed no host-specific clustering, suggesting that this species can adapt to diverse hosts, potentially allowing transmission from agricultural products to humans. Moreover, phylogenomic positioning confirmed species identity and showed close relatedness to strains from maize in Italy, Australia, and the USA. Comparative genomic analysis identified a unique set of genes in the human strains that were not present in the plant-derived reference strain. These genes may be involved in the pathogen's adaptation to human hosts. This study provides the first evidence, to our knowledge, for genomic differentiation in two humans pathogenic FV fungal genomes and open the way to comparative genomic studies searching for specific genes in host-niche adaptation.