Draft Genome Sequence of the Ascomycete Phaeoacremonium aleophilum Strain UCR-PA7, a Causal Agent of the Esca Disease Complex in Grapevines.

Grapevine infections by Phaeoacremonium aleophilum in association with other pathogenic fungi cause complex and economically important vascular diseases. Here we present the first draft of the P. aleophilum genome sequence, which comprises 624 scaffolds with a total length of 47.5 Mb (L50, 45; N50, 336 kb) and 8,926 predicted protein-coding genes

Draft Genome Sequence of the Grapevine Dieback Fungus Eutypa lata UCR-EL1.

The vascular pathogen Eutypa lata, which causes Eutypa dieback in grapevines, is a major threat to grape production worldwide. Here, we present the first draft genome sequence of E. lata (UCR-EL1). The computational prediction and annotation of the protein-coding genes of UCR-EL1 provide an initial inventory of its potential virulence factors

Draft Genome Sequence of Botrytis cinerea BcDW1, Inoculum for Noble Rot of Grape Berries.

Botrytized wines are produced from grape berries infected by Botrytis cinerea under specific environmental conditions. Here, we report the draft genome sequence of B. cinerea BcDW1, a strain isolated from Sémillon grapes in Napa Valley in 1992 that is used with the intent to induce noble rot for botrytized wine production

Proteomic study of the membrane components of signalling cascades of Botrytis cinerea controlled by phosphorylation

Protein phosphorylation and membrane proteins play an important role in the infection of plants by phytopathogenic fungi, given their involvement in signal transduction cascades. Botrytis cinerea is a well-studied necrotrophic fungus taken as a model organism in fungal plant pathology, given its broad host range and adverse economic impact. To elucidate relevant events during infection, several proteomics analyses have been performed in B. cinerea, but they cover only 10% of the total proteins predicted in the genome database of this fungus. To increase coverage, we analysed by LC-MS/MS the first-reported overlapped proteome in phytopathogenic fungi, the “phosphomembranome” of B. cinerea, combining the two most important signal transduction subproteomes. Of the 1112 membrane-associated phosphoproteins identified, 64 and 243 were classified as exclusively identified or overexpressed under glucose and deproteinized tomato cell wall conditions, respectively. Seven proteins were found under both conditions, but these presented a specific phosphorylation pattern, so they were considered as exclusively identified or overexpressed proteins. From bioinformatics analysis, those differences in the membrane-associated phosphoproteins composition were associated with various processes, including pyruvate metabolism, unfolded protein response, oxidative stress response, autophagy and cell death. Our results suggest these proteins play a significant role in the B. cinerea pathogenic cycl

The genomic diversification of grapevine clones.

BACKGROUND:Vegetatively propagated clones accumulate somatic mutations. The purpose of this study was to better appreciate clone diversity and involved defining the nature of somatic mutations throughout the genome. Fifteen Zinfandel winegrape clone genomes were sequenced and compared to one another using a highly contiguous genome reference produced from one of the clones, Zinfandel 03. RESULTS:Though most heterozygous variants were shared, somatic mutations accumulated in individual and subsets of clones. Overall, heterozygous mutations were most frequent in intergenic space and more frequent in introns than exons. A significantly larger percentage of CpG, CHG, and CHH sites in repetitive intergenic space experienced transition mutations than in genic and non-repetitive intergenic spaces, likely because of higher levels of methylation in the region and because methylated cytosines often spontaneously deaminate. Of the minority of mutations that occurred in exons, larger proportions of these were putatively deleterious when they occurred in relatively few clones. CONCLUSIONS:These data support three major conclusions. First, repetitive intergenic space is a major driver of clone genome diversification. Second, clones accumulate putatively deleterious mutations. Third, the data suggest selection against deleterious variants in coding regions or some mechanism by which mutations are less frequent in coding than noncoding regions of the genome

Perception of Education in Non-face-to-face Environments in the nutrition career of the Universidad Hispanoamericana within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, Costa Rica, 2021

En Costa Rica, al igual que a nivel mundial a principios de abril, se consideró y aplicó el cierre de los centros del cuidado de la primera infancia, escuelas y universidades, el cual afectó a casi el 91% de la población estudiantil mundial, más de 1.500 millones de estudiantes. El objetivo de este estudio es conocer la percepción que tienen los estudiantes de las carreras acreditadas de la Universidad con respecto al cambio de la educación presencial a la no presencial durante el primer y segundo cuatrimestre del año 2020. El estudio presenta un diseño descriptivo con enfoque cuantitativo. La encuesta consistió en 27 preguntas agrupadas en 6 secciones, en donde se recopila información relacionada con datos sociodemográficos, datos generales de las materias cursadas durante el curso lectivo 2021, metodologías y prácticas educativas, aplicaciones y plataformas utilizadas, comunicación con los docentes y finalmente evaluaciones realizadas. Los datos obtenidos de las 109 respuestas se analizaron de forma descriptiva con el programa Excel. Al indagar sobre las metodologías utilizadas en las clases virtuales durante el año 2021, los estudiantes valoran como “muy adecuadas” para la modalidad virtual las siguientes metodologías:  91% elige las clases por bloques, el 61% las clases magistrales, el 55% las exposiciones de temas por los estudiantes y 50% las clases donde se desarrollan casos en vivo y sesiones de preguntas y respuestas en vivo. La investigación realizada muestra que la mayoría de los estudiantes consideran como aspectos de mayor provecho para el aprendizaje la metodología y estrategias implementadas por el docente, esto tiene concordancia también con la evaluación de los aspectos negativos de la enseñanza no presencial en la cual también vuelve a denotarse como factor principal la metodología docente.In Costa Rica, as in the world at the beginning of April, the closure of early childhood care centers, schools and universities was considered and applied, which affected almost 91% of the world student population, more of 1.5 billion students. The objective of this study is to know the perception that students of the accredited careers of the University have regarding the change from face-to-face education to non-face-to-face education during the first and second quarters of the year 2020. The survey consisted of 27 questions grouped into 6 sections, where information related to sociodemographic data, general data of the subjects studied during the 2021 school year, educational methodologies and practices, applications and platforms used, communication with teachers and finally evaluations carried out are collected. The data obtained from the 109 responses were analyzed descriptively with the Excel program. When inquiring about the methodologies used in the virtual classes during the year 2021, the students value the following methodologies as “very suitable” for the virtual modality: 91% choose the classes by blocks, 61% the master classes, 55% the exhibitions of topics by students and 50% the classes where live cases and live question and answer sessions are developed. The research carried out shows that most students consider the methodology and strategies implemented by the teacher as aspects of greater benefit for learning, this is also consistent with the evaluation of the negative aspects of non-face-to-face teaching in which it also returns to the teaching methodology should be denoted as the main factor

Infection Strategies Deployed by Botrytis cinerea, Fusarium acuminatum, and Rhizopus stolonifer as a Function of Tomato Fruit Ripening Stage

Worldwide, 20–25% of all harvested fruit and vegetables are lost annually in the field and throughout the postharvest supply chain due to rotting by fungal pathogens. Most postharvest pathogens exhibit necrotrophic or saprotrophic lifestyles, resulting in decomposition of the host tissues and loss of marketable commodities. Necrotrophic fungi can readily infect ripe fruit leading to the rapid establishment of disease symptoms. However, these pathogens generally fail to infect unripe fruit or remain quiescent until host conditions stimulate a successful infection. Previous research on infections of fruit has mainly been focused on the host’s genetic and physicochemical factors that inhibit or promote disease. Here, we investigated if fruit pathogens can modify their own infection strategies in response to the ripening stage of the host. To test this hypothesis, we profiled global gene expression of three fungal pathogens that display necrotrophic behavior—Botrytis cinerea, Fusarium acuminatum, and Rhizopus stolonifer—during interactions with unripe and ripe tomato fruit. We assembled and functionally annotated the transcriptomes of F. acuminatum and R. stolonifer as no genomic resources were available. Then, we conducted differential gene expression analysis to compare each pathogen during inoculations versus in vitro conditions. Through characterizing patterns of overrepresented pathogenicity and virulence functions (e.g., phytotoxin production, cell wall degradation, and proteolysis) among the differentially expressed genes, we were able to determine shared strategies among the three fungi during infections of compatible (ripe) and incompatible (unripe) fruit tissues. Though each pathogen’s strategy differed in the details, interactions with unripe fruit were commonly characterized by an emphasis on the degradation of cell wall components, particularly pectin, while colonization of ripe fruit featured more heavily redox processes, proteolysis, metabolism of simple sugars, and chitin biosynthesis. Furthermore, we determined that the three fungi were unable to infect fruit from the non-ripening (nor) tomato mutant, confirming that to cause disease, these pathogens require the host tissues to undergo specific ripening processes. By enabling a better understanding of fungal necrotrophic infection strategies, we move closer to generating accurate models of fruit diseases and the development of early detection tools and effective management strategies

Depicting the battle between nectarine and Monilinia laxa: the fruit developmental stage dictates the effectiveness of the host defenses and the pathogen’s infection strategies

Infections by the fungus Monilinia laxa, the main cause of brown rot in Europe, result in considerable losses of stone fruit. Herein, we present a comprehensive transcriptomic approach to unravel strategies deployed by nectarine fruit and M. laxa during their interaction. We used M. laxa-inoculated immature and mature fruit, which was resistant and susceptible to brown rot, respectively, to perform a dual RNA-Seq analysis. In immature fruit, host responses, pathogen biomass, and pathogen transcriptional activity peaked at 14–24 h post inoculation (hpi), at which point M. laxa appeared to switch its transcriptional response to either quiescence or death. Mature fruit experienced an exponential increase in host and pathogen activity beginning at 6 hpi. Functional analyses in both host and pathogen highlighted differences in stage-dependent strategies. For example, in immature fruit, M. laxa unsuccessfully employed carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes) for penetration, which the fruit was able to combat with tightly regulated hormone responses and an oxidative burst that challenged the pathogen’s survival at later time points. In contrast, in mature fruit, M. laxa was more dependent on proteolytic effectors than CAZymes, and was able to invest in filamentous growth early during the interaction. Hormone analyses of mature fruit infected with M. laxa indicated that, while jasmonic acid activity was likely useful for defense, high ethylene activity may have promoted susceptibility through the induction of ripening processes. Lastly, we identified M. laxa genes that were highly induced in both quiescent and active infections and may serve as targets for control of brown rot.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio