Genomic signatures of pathogenicity and lifestyle adaptation in binucleate Ceratobasidium species

Rhizoctonia solani, the most studied species in the genus, has several reported genomes, while only two for Ceratobasidium species exist. This gap limits our understanding of their ecology, evolution, and genetic diversity, which shape interactions with hosts and lifestyles. We compared the genomic features of five Ceratobasidium isolates from different AGs and associated with crops, contrasting them with a reference isolate for Rhizoctonia solani AG1-IA. Ceratobasidium isolates have larger genomes, more pathogenicity-related genes, and distinct gene families compared to Rhizoctonia solani. This study provides a comprehensive characterization of relevant genomic features of binucleate Ceratobasidium species, associating them with host preferences, fungal adaptation, and phylogenetic relationships.