Transferencia horizontal e perspectivas

REVIEW ARTICLE

Horizontal gene and chromosome transfer in plant pathogenic fungi a¡ecting host range
Rahim Mehrabi1,2, Ali H. Bahkali3, Kamel A. Abd-Elsalam3, Mohamed Moslem3, Sarrah Ben M’Barek4,
Amir Mirzadi Gohari4, Mansoor Karimi Jashni1, Ioannis Stergiopoulos1, Gert H.J. Kema4 &
Pierre J.G.M. de Wit1
1

Laboratory of Phytopathology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands; 2Seed and Plant Improvement Institute, Karaj, Iran; 3Botany and
Microbiology Department, King Saud University, College of Science, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; and 4Plant Research International, Wageningen, The
Netherlands

Correspondence: Pierre J.G.M. de Wit,
Laboratory of Phytopathology, Wageningen
University, Droevendaalsesteeg 1, 6708 PB
Wageningen, The Netherlands. Tel.: 131 317
483 130; fax: [phone]; e-mail: [e-mail] Received 8 October 2010; revised 3 December
2010; accepted 11 December 2010.
Final version published online 26 January 2011.
DOI:10.1111/j.1574-6976.2010.00263.x

MICROBIOLOGY REVIEWS

Editor: Gerhard Braus
Keywords
conditionally dispensable chromosome; interspecies hybridization; anastomosis; toxins; pathogenicity; virulence.

Abstract
Plant pathogenic fungi adapt quickly to changing environments including overcoming plant disease resistance genes. This is usually achieved by mutations in single effector genes of the pathogens, enabling them to avoid recognition by the host plant. In addition, horizontal gene transfer (HGT) and horizontal chromosome transfer (HCT) provide a means for pathogens to broaden their host range.
Recently, several reports have appeared in the literature on HGT, HCT and hybridization between plant pathogenic fungi that affect their host range, including species of Stagonospora/Pyrenophora, Fusarium and Alternaria. Evidence is given that HGT of the ToxA gene from Stagonospora nodorum to Pyrenophora tritici-repentis enabled the latter fungus to cause a serious disease in wheat. A nonpathogenic Fusarium species can become