Genome and transcriptome analyses of the mycoparasite Clonostachys rosea highlights mycotoxin tolerance as a key biocontrol trait

Abstract: The mycoparasitic fungus Clonostachys rosea is an efficient biological control agent under field conditions for a variety of plant diseases on agricultural crops. The genome of C. rosea strain IK726 was determined using Illumina/SOLiD technology, and shown to contain high numbers of ABC-transporters (86 genes) and MFS-transporters (620 genes). Interestingly, the increase of ABC-transporter gene number in C. rosea was associated with phylogenetic subgroup G (pleiotropic drug resistance transporters) and subgroup B (multidrug resistance transporters), possibly involved in protecting C. rosea against exogenous toxins. Transcriptomes from C. rosea interacting with Botrytis cinerea and Fusarium graminearum showed that 61% of all induced genes were predicted to encode ABC- and MFS-transporters. Four and seventeen transporter genes were specifically induced during interaction with B. cinerea and F. graminearum, respectively. In summary, our data suggest that mycotoxin tolerance is an important component of the biocontrol ability of C. rosea.