ArticlePLoS genetics2021
Recent loss of the Dim2 DNA methyltransferase decreases mutation rate in repeats and changes evolutionary trajectory in a fungal pathogen.
Article in PLoS genetics, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers.
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32 citing papers in PubMed, 52 citations in OpenAlex.
- Population epigenetics: deciphering DNA methylation diversity and its implications for health, disease, and evolution.Molecular biology and evolution · 2026Review
- 5mC and 6mA DNA Methylation in the Fungal Kingdom: From Genome Defense to Epigenetic Regulation.Epigenomes · 2026Review
- Population-level Variability in Genome-wide Repressive Histone Marks in a Fungal Wheat Pathogen.Genome biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Interspecies hybridization as a route of accessory chromosome origin in fungal pathogens.mBio · 2026Article
- Three-dimensional genome architecture connects chromatin structure and function in a major wheat pathogen.BMC biology · 2025Article
- Fungi as models of centromere innovation: from DNA sequence to 3-dimensional arrangement.Chromosome research : an international journal on the molecular, supramolecular and evolutionary aspects of chromosome biology · 2025Review
- Ancestral and recent bursts of transposition shaped the massive genomes of plant pathogenic rust fungi.BMC genomics · 2025Article
- Review
- The Impact of DNA Methylation inMicroorganisms · 2025Article
- Enhanced oxidative stress resistance in Ustilago maydis and its implications on the virulence.International microbiology : the official journal of the Spanish Society for Microbiology · 2024Article
- Article
- Copy number variation introduced by a massive mobile element facilitates global thermal adaptation in a fungal wheat pathogen.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Article
- Recent reactivation of a pathogenicity-associated transposable element is associated with major chromosomal rearrangements in a fungal wheat pathogen.Nucleic acids research · 2024Article
- H4K20me3 is important for Ash1-mediated H3K36me3 and transcriptional silencing in facultative heterochromatin in a fungal pathogen.PLoS genetics · 2023Article
- Epigenetic regulation of nuclear processes in fungal plant pathogens.PLoS pathogens · 2023Review
- Current genetic strategies to investigate gene functions in Trichoderma reesei.Microbial cell factories · 2023Review
- A thousand-genome panel retraces the global spread and adaptation of a major fungal crop pathogen.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Recent transposable element bursts are associated with the proximity to genes in a fungal plant pathogen.PLoS pathogens · 2023Article
- The histone code of the fungal genusMicrobial genomics · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
DNA methylation is found throughout all domains of life, yet the extent and function of DNA methylation differ among eukaryotes. Strains of the plant pathogenic fungus Zymoseptoria tritici appeared to lack cytosine DNA methylation (5mC) because gene amplification followed by Repeat-Induced Point mutation (RIP) resulted in the inactivation of the dim2 DNA methyltransferase gene. 5mC is, however, present in closely related sister species. We demonstrate that inactivation of dim2 occurred recently as some Z. tritici isolates carry a functional dim2 gene. Moreover, we show that dim2 inactivation occurred by a different path than previously hypothesized. We mapped the genome-wide distribution of 5mC in strains with or without functional dim2 alleles. Presence of functional dim2 correlates with high levels of 5mC in transposable elements (TEs), suggesting a role in genome defense. We identified low levels of 5mC in strains carrying non-functional dim2 alleles, suggesting that 5mC is maintained over time, presumably by an active Dnmt5 DNA methyltransferase. Integration of a functional dim2 allele in strains with mutated dim2 restored normal 5mC levels, demonstrating de novo cytosine methylation activity of Dim2. To assess the importance of 5mC for genome evolution, we performed an evolution experiment, comparing genomes of strains with high levels of 5mC to genomes of strains lacking functional dim2. We found that presence of a functional dim2 allele alters nucleotide composition by promoting C to T transitions (C→T) specifically at CpA (CA) sites during mitosis, likely contributing to TE inactivation. Our results show that 5mC density at TEs is a polymorphic trait in Z. tritici populations that can impact genome evolution.
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