Metarhizium rileyi RCEF 4871 Genome sequencing and assembly. Metarhizium rileyi RCEF 4871

Pan-genomics study of insect pathogenic fungi. There are about a thousand fungal species that infect and kill insects, and many of these are ascomycetes. The speciation and evolution of these insect pathogenic fungi is poorly understood. Our phylogenomic analysis of Metarhizium spp., Cordyceps militaris, and Beauveria bassiana indicates these insect pathogens may have diverged from other mycopathogens. Molecular clock analysis reveals that Cordyceps lineage appeared on earth more than 130 million years before the Metarhizium lineage. However, these species show the characteristics of convergent evolution with protein family expansions of proteases and chitinases to tackle insect cuticles. To better understand the evolution of fungal entomopathogenicity and host specificity, natural selection, and speciation, on top of four sequenced species, we started this mini-pan genomics project, which includes more ascomycetous insect pathogenic fungi from different families and with a different host range, for genome sequencing and comparative genomic analysis.