Complete mitochondrial genome sequence of the white root rot pathogen Dematophora necatrix (Xylariaceae: Xylariales)

Magriet A van der Nest; Emma T Steenkamp; Lieschen De Vos; Raven Wienk; Velushka Swart; Noëlani van den Berg

doi:10.1080/23802359.2024.2403411

Complete mitochondrial genome sequence of the white root rot pathogen Dematophora necatrix (Xylariaceae: Xylariales)

Mitochondrial DNA B Resour. 2024 Sep 12;9(9):1207-1212. doi: 10.1080/23802359.2024.2403411. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Magriet A van der Nest^{1

2}, Emma T Steenkamp², Lieschen De Vos², Raven Wienk^{1

2}, Velushka Swart^{1

2}, Noëlani van den Berg^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Hans Merensky Chair in Avocado Research, Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI), University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
² Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology, Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI), University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.

Abstract

The mitochondrial genome of Dematophora necatrix is 121,350 base pairs in length with a G + C content of 30.19%. Phylogenetic analysis showed that D. necatrix grouped with other members of the Xylariaceae, with which its mitogenome also shares a broadly similar architecture and gene content. The D. necatrix mitogenome contains 14 protein-coding and 26 tRNA-encoding genes, as well as one copy each of the rnl, rns, rps3 and nat1 genes. However, as much as 80% of this genome is intronic or non-coding. This is likely due to expansions and rearrangements caused by the large number of group I introns and the homing endonucleases and reverse-transcriptases they encode. Our study thus provides a valuable foundation from which to explore the mitochondrion's role in the biology of D. necatrix, and also serves as a resource for investigating the pathogen's population biology and general ecology.

Keywords: N-acetyltransferase; Xylariaceae; homing endonucleases; tRNA gene clusters.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Funding for the publication was generously provided by the Hans Merensky Foundation.