Draft genome sequences from foliar hyperparasites of rust fungi. Fungi

Rust diseases can cause catastrophic crop losses across the globe and are a threat to global food security. Hyperparasites (parasites of parasites) are a potential biological control method for rust fungi. Fungal hyperparasites also produce a variety of novel secondary metabolites (SMs), some of which are potent antifungals. SMs are produced by biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs), and these clusters can be identified via genome mining. There are minimal genomes currently available from hyperparasites of rust. Fungal hyperparasites were isolated from the pustules of rust-infected plants: Clonostachys rosea HWLR12 was isolated from wheat (infected with Puccinia triticina), Penicillium brevicompactum HOCR17 and Clonostachys rosea HOCR18 were isolated from oat (infected with Puccinia coronata f. sp. avenae), and Simplicillium aogashimaense HWYR21 was isolated from wheat (infected with Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici).