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From arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal spore togenome assembly
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(English)Manuscript (preprint) (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are essential to terrestrial ecosystems, yet their genomic study is fraught with challenges. Traditional sequencing methods are often limited by difficulties in obtaining pure, high-quality DNA due to the obligate symbiosis of AM fungi with land plants. Here, we explore the previously developed wokflow to sequence AM fungal genomes using single nuclei instead of whole DNA extracts. We present a refined workflow that involves the isolation of spores, sorting of individual nuclei through fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS), whole genome amplification (WGA), sequencing, and assembly. We assess variability in nuclear sorting accuracy across different

AM fungal taxa, as well as diversity in genome assembly sizes and completeness across different AM fungal families. This method assessment paves the way for the continuous development towards comprehensive genomic studies of AM fungi without the need for extensive culturing.

Keywords [en]
AM fungi, Genetic variation, Single nuclei, Spore, Single spore
National Category
Evolutionary Biology
Research subject
Biology with specialization in Evolutionary Genetics
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-533535OAI: oai:DiVA.org:uu-533535DiVA, id: diva2:1878191
Funder
EU, European Research Council, 678792Available from: 2024-06-26 Created: 2024-06-26 Last updated: 2024-08-21
In thesis
1. A single nuclei approach to understand genomic organization of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi
Open this publication in new window or tab >>A single nuclei approach to understand genomic organization of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi
2024 (English)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are obligate plant symbionts that significantly enhance plant nutrient and water uptake in exchange for photosynthetically fixed carbon, playing a crucial role in terrestrial ecosystems. The cellular biology of these fungi is characterized by an aseptate hyphae with thousands of nuclei coexisting within a continuous cytoplasm. Thus, individual nuclei function collectively as a population within AM fungi. The structure and extent of within-organism genetic variation has been a subject of interest in AM fungal research. Additionally, their long-term survival without a single nucleus per cell stage and a cryptic sexual cycle remains puzzling. However, investigating within-organism genetic variation in AM fungi has been challenging due to difficulties in their axenic cultivation as well as obtaining high-quality genome assemblies. With this thesis, I sought to elucidate the genomic organization of AM fungi to deepen our understanding of their important evolutionary drivers. In the first paper, I investigated the capacity to detect intra-organismal genetic variation in published genome assemblies of Rhizophagus irregularis DAOM197198 that were obtained from single nuclei and whole organism sequence datasets. The findings showed that the two datasets exhibited different frequency patterns for discovered variants, and highlighted the methodological challenges associated with detecting low-frequency variants in AM fungal whole genome sequence data. The second paper focused on characterizing the distribution of genetic variation in three strains of two species within the genus Claroideoglomus. Here, the findings revealed low levels of genetic variation within the strains, most of which represent rare variants, with average pN/pS ratios indicating purifying selection. Curiously, some polymorphic sites were shared across both strains and species, and I discuss different models to understand these observations. In the third paper, I explored the relationship between nuclear size, ploidy level, and the genetic organization in three Diversisporales species. During nuclear sorting, we observed nuclear size variations, and I hypothesized that larger nuclei might contain more DNA due to either the merging of different haploid nuclei resulting in diploidy or asynchronized nuclear replication within a spore. Analysis revealed significant assembly size differences in two species. Investigation into the genetic organization based on the putative mating-type (mat) locus showed that most single nuclei contained only one mat allele. However, a substantial structural divergence of the mat locus was noted between species. Finally, in the fourth paper, I evaluated the performance of the workflow used to generate whole genome sequence data from single nuclei in AM fungal species. Through this assessment, I highlight the workflow's effectiveness in generating high-quality genomic data from individual nuclei and underscore the potential of the workflow for advancing AM fungal genomic studies. Overall, this thesis provides insights into the genetic organization of various AM fungal species, enhancing our understanding of within-organism genetic variation in these important plant symbionts.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, 2024. p. 72
Series
Digital Comprehensive Summaries of Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty of Science and Technology, ISSN 1651-6214 ; 2420
Keywords
arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, genomics, intra-organismal variation, genetic variation, single nuclei
National Category
Evolutionary Biology
Research subject
Biology with specialization in Evolutionary Genetics
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-533540 (URN)978-91-513-2176-9 (ISBN)
Public defence
2024-09-19, Friessalen, Evolutionary Biology Center (EBC), Norbyvägen 14, Uppsala, 09:15 (English)
Opponent
Supervisors
Available from: 2024-08-20 Created: 2024-06-26 Last updated: 2024-08-21

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