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Copy number variation introduced by a massive mobile element underpins global thermal adaptation in a fungal wheat pathogen

Sabina Moser Tralamazza,E. Gluck-Thaler,Alice Feurtey,D. Croll

Published 2023 in bioRxiv

ABSTRACT

Copy number variation (CNV) can drive rapid evolution in changing environments. In microbial pathogens, such adaptation is a key factor underpinning epidemics and colonization of new niches. However, the genomic determinants of such adaptation remain poorly understood. Here, we systematically investigate CNVs in one of the largest to date genome sequencing dataset spanning a worldwide collection of 1109 genomes from the major wheat pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici. We found overall strong purifying selection acting on most CNVs. Genomic defense mechanisms likely accelerated gene loss over episodes of continental colonization. Local adaptation along climatic gradients was facilitated by CNVs affecting secondary metabolite production and gene loss in general. One of the strongest candidates for climatic adaptation is a highly conserved gene of the NAD-dependent Sirtuin family. The Sirtuin CNV locus localizes to an ∼68-kb Starship mobile element unique to the species carrying genes highly expressed during plant infection. The element has likely lost the ability to transpose, demonstrating how the ongoing domestication of cargo-carrying selfish elements can contribute to selectable variation within populations. Our work highlights how standing variation in gene copy numbers at the global scale is a major factor driving climatic and metabolic adaptation in microbial species.

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