Shuffling effector genes through mini-chromosomes.

The approximately 2-Mb MoT mini-chromosome lacks house-keeping genes, and 52.8% of its sequences are transposons, a significant enrichment similar to what has been reported in lineage-specific chromosomes in the I Fusarium oxysporum i species complex [[5]]. Interestingly, though these two effectors are located on separate chromosomes in MoO, I PWL2 i and I BAS1 i are physically linked in the mini-chromosome of MoT, indicating the shuffling of effector genes. The enrichment and shuffling of effector genes on mini-chromosomes might have provided a reservoir of retained effector genes at the pathogen population level and promoted documented effector gene mobility through movement to new locations in core chromosome ends [[8]]. [Extracted from the article]