Transposable elements impact the population divergence of rice blast fungus <i>Magnaporthe oryzae</i>

Abstract

<i>Magnaporthe oryzae</i> is the causal agent of the destructive blast disease, which caused massive loss of yield annually worldwide. The fungus diverged into distinct clades during adaptation toward the two rice subspecies, Xian/<i>Indica</i> and Geng/<i>Japonica</i>. Although the role of TEs in the adaptive evolution was well established, mechanisms underlying how TEs promote the population divergence of <i>M. oryzae</i> remain largely unknown. In this study, we reported that TEs shape the population divergence of <i>M. oryzae</i> by differentially regulating gene expression between Xian/<i>Indica</i>-infecting and Geng/<i>Japonica</i>-infecting populations. Our results revealed a TE insertion-mediated gene expression adaption that led to the divergence of <i>M. oryzae</i> population infecting different rice subspecies.