Horizontal transfers between fungal Fusarium species contributed to successive outbreaks of coffee wilt disease

Abstract

Outbreaks of fungal disease have devastated plants and animals throughout history. Over the past century, the repeated emergence of coffee wilt disease caused by the fungal pathogen Fusarium xylarioides severely impacted coffee production across sub-Saharan Africa. To improve the disease management of such pathogens, it is crucial to understand their genetic structure and evolutionary potential. We compared the genomes of 13 historic strains spanning six decades and multiple disease outbreaks to investigate population structure and host specialisation. We found F. xylarioides comprises at least four distinct lineages: one host-specific to Coffea arabica, one to C. canephora var. robusta, and two historic lineages isolated from various Coffea species. Mapping variation onto a new long-read reference genome showed that host-specificity appears to be acquired through horizontal transfer of effector genes from members of the F. oxysporum species complex. This species complex is known to cause wilt disease in over 100 plant species. Multiple transfers into the F. xylarioides populations matched to different parts of the F. oxysporum mobile pathogenicity chromosome and were enriched in effector genes and transposons. Effector genes in this region and other horizontally transferred carbohydrate-active enzymes important in the breakdown of plant cell walls were shown by transcriptomics to be highly expressed during infection of C. arabica by the fungal arabica strains. Widespread sharing of specific transposons between F. xylarioides and F. oxysporum, and the presence of large Starship elements, indicate that transposons were involved in horizontal transfers. Our results support the hypothesis that horizontal gene transfers contributed to the repeated emergence of this fungal disease.