Phytophthora medicaginis isolate:7831 genome sequencing and assembly

Hemibiotrophic plant pathogens are a group of agriculturally and ecologically important microbes causing severe losses in plant growth and fitness. The lifestyle of these pathogens consists of an initial biotrophic phase followed by a switch to a necrotrophic phase in the latter stages of infection. Between these two phases is the biotrophic to necrotrophic switch (BNS), the timing and controls of which are not well understood. To investigate the BNS phase we used the emerging hemibiotrophic model Phytophthora medicaginis, an oomycete that causes root rot and substantial yield losses to Fabaceae hosts during periods conducive to the disease. We sequenced the genome of P. medicaginis and analysed the transcriptome during the three phases of growth within a susceptible host to identify pathogenicity genes regulating the BNS phase.