Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41844600›Full record

ArticleNature communications2026

Large-scale multi-omics profiling reveals environmental and evolutionary drivers of fungal phylogeographic and metabolic diversity.

Huali Xie, Jie Hu, Xiulan Zhao, Jianwei Chen, Xiaofeng Yue, Changhao Zhou, Jorge C Navarro-Muñoz, Jun Jiang, Xiaoqian Tang, Fang Zhao and 9 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

19 authors.

Huali Xie *Key Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Oil Crops, Key Laboratory of Detection for Mycotoxins, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Hubei Hongshan Laboratory, Oil Crops Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6581-9573
Jie Hu *State Key Laboratory of Genome and Multi-omics Technologies, BGl Research, Shenzhen, China.
Xiulan Zhao *Key Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Oil Crops, Key Laboratory of Detection for Mycotoxins, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Hubei Hongshan Laboratory, Oil Crops Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, China.
Jianwei Chen *State Key Laboratory of Genome and Multi-omics Technologies, BGl Research, Shenzhen, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2332-4609
Xiaofeng YueKey Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Oil Crops, Key Laboratory of Detection for Mycotoxins, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Hubei Hongshan Laboratory, Oil Crops Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, China.
Changhao ZhouState Key Laboratory of Genome and Multi-omics Technologies, BGl Research, Shenzhen, China.
Jorge C Navarro-MuñozBioinformatics Group, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, the Netherlands.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2992-1607
Jun JiangKey Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Oil Crops, Key Laboratory of Detection for Mycotoxins, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Hubei Hongshan Laboratory, Oil Crops Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, China.
Xiaoqian TangKey Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Oil Crops, Key Laboratory of Detection for Mycotoxins, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Hubei Hongshan Laboratory, Oil Crops Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, China.
Fang ZhaoState Key Laboratory of Genome and Multi-omics Technologies, BGl Research, Shenzhen, China.
E Anne HatmakerDepartment of Biological Sciences and Evolutionary Studies Initiative, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7821-8160
Antonis RokasDepartment of Biological Sciences and Evolutionary Studies Initiative, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7248-6551
Amelia E BarberInstitute for Microbiology, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3399-1037
Milton T DrottDepartment of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9715-2200
Nancy P KellerDepartment of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4386-9473
Qi ZhangKey Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Oil Crops, Key Laboratory of Detection for Mycotoxins, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Hubei Hongshan Laboratory, Oil Crops Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, China. zhangqi01@caas.cn.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7744-0897
Justin J J van der HooftBioinformatics Group, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, the Netherlands. justin.vanderhooft@wur.nl.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9340-5511
Marnix H MedemaBioinformatics Group, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, the Netherlands. marnix.medema@wur.nl.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2191-2821
Peiwu LiKey Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Oil Crops, Key Laboratory of Detection for Mycotoxins, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Hubei Hongshan Laboratory, Oil Crops Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, China. peiwuli@oilcrops.cn.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7521-9918

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Chemical innovation is essential for fungi to adapt to ever-changing ecological environments. However, the environmental and evolutionary drivers of fungal metabolic differentiation remain ambiguous. Here, we show the phylogeographic diversity of 1052 Aspergillus flavus strains across four continents, as conducted through phylogenetic and biogeographical analysis, including 544 newly sequenced strains from China. These strains exhibit varying levels of population-specific mycotoxin production, as determined by population metabolomics analysis. We report a toxigenic subpopulation from China, identified through comparative population genomics analysis. Pan-metabolome analysis reveals strong phylogeographic metabolic patterns associated with specific ecological niches. Low-mycotoxin production clades harbor distinct uncharacterized biosynthetic gene clusters and produce different specialized metabolites instead. This discrepancy is only partially explained by variation in biosynthetic pathway genes, and changes in regulation and primary metabolism appear to mainly drive differentiation of specialized metabolite profiles across fungal populations, as indicated by pangenome profiling, metabolites-genome-wide association study, genotype-environment association study, pan-transcriptome analysis, and gene knockout experiments. Altogether, our results reveal how environmental shifts drive the fungal metabolic evolution, and provide insights for predicting the risk of harmful fungal outbreaks and for biogeographically-informed, precise control measures.

Indexed as

Aspergillus flavusChinaEnvironmentEvolution, MolecularGene Expression ProfilingGenetic VariationGenome, FungalMetabolomeMetabolomicsMultiomicsMycotoxinsPhylogenyPhylogeographyMycotoxins

Identifiers

PMID41844600
PMCPMC13149866

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.