Nanopore sequencing of genomic DNA from Magnaporthe oryzae isolates with different host range

Magnaporthe oryzae is a notorious fungus most well known to cause blast disease on rice and wheat with devastating effect on grain yield. Its host range includes other cereal crops such as oat, finger millet and foxtail millet as well as some wild grasses. M. oryzae is found all over the world wherever warm temperature and high humidity are common. Although it is adapted to a particular host, it is known to shift from one host to another when the conditions permit. We speculate that this is likely due to its ability to rearrange its genome to suit a new host and different environmental conditions. The presence of mini-chromosomes, or dispensable chromosomes, may help with the manoeuvre. We sequenced the genomes of several isolates of M. oryzae with different host ranges, and a few isolates collected from two consecutive time points (2016 and 2017) from an outbreak in Bangladesh using nanopore sequencing technology to study the genome evolution of this important pathogen. Here, we deposit the raw reads from our sequencing efforts for public access.