Accelerated fungal evolution with metabolic gene clusters

Toyota Auditorium, Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy

Shifts in fundamental ecological niche and competitive strategies are apparent in many lineages of Ascomycete and Basidiomycete fungi. The recent explosion of fungal genome sequencing projects has enabled investigations of the molecular underpinnings of these shifts. Through comparative investigations of gene phylogenies and genomic clustering, we have documented several cases of metabolic gene clusters facilitating fungal evolutionary leaps, involving horizontal gene transfer, concerted pathway loss and metabolic rewiring. Polymorphic loci encoding alternative pathways as gene clusters may serve as reservoirs for metabolic diversity underlying the exceptional adaptability of fungal genomes.