Comparative genomics including the basal pathogen Peronospora belbahrii reveal common evolutionary patterns and the monophyly of downy mildews in a paraphyletic Phytophthora

The obligate biotrophic downy mildew constitute the most species rich group of oomycetes. So far only handful of genomes of this group of pathogens has been sequenced. Most likely due to low taxon sampling, until now phylogenomic studies with few taxa were in stark contrast to multigene phylogenies with a large number of accessions with respect to the relationships of downy mildews and Phytophthora species. In the current study, we sequenced the whole genome of the economically important basil pathogen Peronospora belbahrii, and performed in-depth comparative genomics and phylogenomics towards clarifying some aspects of downy mildew and Phytophthora evolution.