Functional carbohydrate-active enzymes acquired by horizontal gene transfer from plants in the whitefly Bemisia tabaci.

Carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes) involved in the degradation of plant cell walls and/or the assimilation of plant carbohydrates for energy uptake are widely distributed in microorganisms. In contrast, they are less frequent in animals, although there are exceptions, including examples of CAZymes acquired by horizontal gene transfer (HGT) from bacteria or fungi in several of phytophagous arthropods and plant-parasitic nematodes. Although the whitefly Bemisia tabaci is a major agricultural pest, knowledge of HGT-acquired CAZymes in this phloem-feeding insect of the Hemiptera order (subfamily Aleyrodinae) is still lacking.

The genome sequence of the model ascomycete fungus Podospora anserina.

Background: The dung-inhabiting ascomycete fungus Podospora anserina is a model used to study various aspects of eukaryotic and fungal biology, such as ageing, prions and sexual development.

Results: We present a 10X draft sequence of P. anserina genome, linked to the sequences of a large expressed sequence tag collection.