Diaporthe longicolla Genome sequencing. Diaporthe longicolla

Endophytic fungi are benign microbes asymptomatically inhabiting a wide range of host plant tissues. Fungus belonging to genus Diaporthe (anamorph: Phomopsis), routinely isolated as one of the dominant endophyte from tropical plant hosts, produces several enzymes and secondary metabolites. In this study, an in-silico approach was followed for studying the whole genome of Diaporthe sp. isolated from the tubers of Gloriosa superba belonging to family Colchicaceae. The endophytic fungus was able to produce an important plant metabolite Colchicine - an alkaloid well known for its medicinal purpose. A de novo genome assembly was performed to study the genetic variation in this endophytic strain compared to pathogenic strains. The draft genome assembly was obtained with a genome size of 53Mb which was further analyzed for gene prediction, annotation, genome comparison, phylogenetic analysis and pathway studies. Understanding and reporting the genetic properties of an endophyte known to produce host-specific secondary metabolites might provide valuable clues related to endophyte-plant relationship as well as heterologous expression of plant-derived metabolites.