Whole-Genome Data from <i>Curtobacterium flaccumfaciens</i> pv. <i>flaccumfaciens</i> Strains Associated with Tan Spot of Mungbean and Soybean Reveal Diverse Plasmid Profiles

Abstract

Despite the substantial economic impact of <i>Curtobacterium flaccumfaciens</i> pv. <i>flaccumfaciens</i> on legume production worldwide, the genetic basis of its pathogenicity and potential host association is poorly understood. The production of high-quality reference genome assemblies of <i>C. flaccumfaciens</i> pv. <i>flaccumfaciens</i> strains associated with different hosts sheds light on the genetic basis of its pathogenic variability and host association. Moreover, the study of recent outbreaks of bacterial wilt and microevolution of the pathogen in Australia requires access to high-quality reference genomes that are sufficiently closely related to the population being studied within Australia. We provide the first genome assemblies of <i>C. flaccumfaciens</i> pv. <i>flaccumfaciens</i> strains associated with mungbean and soybean, which revealed high variability in their plasmid composition. The analysis of <i>C. flaccumfaciens</i> pv. <i>flaccumfaciens</i> genomes revealed an extensive suite of carbohydrate-active enzymes potentially associated with pathogenicity, including four carbohydrate esterases, 50 glycoside hydrolases, 23 glycosyl transferases, and a polysaccharide lyase. We also identified 11 serine peptidases, three of which were located within a linear plasmid, pCff119. These high-quality assemblies and annotations will provide a foundation for population genomics studies of <i>C. flaccumfaciens</i> pv. <i>flaccumfaciens</i> in Australia and for answering fundamental questions regarding pathogenicity factors and adaptation of <i>C. flaccumfaciens</i> pv. <i>flaccumfaciens</i> to various hosts worldwide and, at a broader scale, contribute to unraveling genomic features of gram-positive, xylem-inhabiting bacterial pathogens.[Formula: see text] Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.