Footprints of parasitism in the genome of the parasitic flowering plant Cuscuta campestris

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 9; no. 1; pp. 2515 - 11
• Main Authors: Vogel, Alexander, Schwacke, Rainer, Denton, Alisandra K., Usadel, Björn, Hollmann, Julien, Fischer, Karsten, Bolger, Anthony, Schmidt, Maximilian H.-W., Bolger, Marie E., Gundlach, Heidrun, Mayer, Klaus F. X., Weiss-Schneeweiss, Hanna, Temsch, Eva M., Krause, Kirsten
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 28.06.2018; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 45/22; 45/23; 631/208/212/2304; 631/449/1659; Carrier Proteins - genetics; Carrier Proteins - metabolism; Cuscuta - classification; Cuscuta - genetics; Cuscuta campestris; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; Flowering; Flowering plants; Gene Deletion; Gene Duplication; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; Gene Ontology; Gene transfer; Genes; Genome, Plant; Genomes; Host-Parasite Interactions; Humanities and Social Sciences; Karyotype; Marinbiologi: 497; Marine biology: 497; Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400; Mathematics and natural science: 400; Metabolic Networks and Pathways - genetics; Molecular Sequence Annotation; multidisciplinary; Nucleotide sequence; Nutrient uptake; Nutrients; Parasites; Parasitic plants; Parasitism; Pelargonium - parasitology; Photosynthesis; Photosynthesis - genetics; Phylogeny; Plant Proteins - genetics; Plant Proteins - metabolism; Plants (botany); Science; Science (multidisciplinary); VDP; Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480; Zoology and botany: 480
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-04344-z

A parasitic lifestyle, where plants procure some or all of their nutrients from other living plants, has evolved independently in many dicotyledonous plant families and is a major threat for agriculture globally. Nevertheless, no genome sequence of a parasitic plant has been reported to date. Here we describe the genome sequence of the parasitic field dodder, Cuscuta campestris . The genome contains signatures of a fairly recent whole-genome duplication and lacks genes for pathways superfluous to a parasitic lifestyle. Specifically, genes needed for high photosynthetic activity are lost, explaining the low photosynthesis rates displayed by the parasite. Moreover, several genes involved in nutrient uptake processes from the soil are lost. On the other hand, evidence for horizontal gene transfer by way of genomic DNA integration from the parasite’s hosts is found. We conclude that the parasitic lifestyle has left characteristic footprints in the C. campestris genome. Parasitic lifestyles leave unique genomic footprints. Here, the authors describe the genome sequence of a parasitic plant, Cuscuta campestris , and find that gene losses and host gene acquisitions reflect the independence from photosynthesis and the ability to retain and express chunks of foreign genomic DNA.