Functionality of Fusarium oxysporum chromosome telomeric regions in genome plasticity

The genome of Fusarium oxysporum is highly dynamic and contains lineage specific (LS) chromosomes, named 3, 6, 14 and 15, which are rich in transposable elements and are involved in the pathogenic behaviour of the species (Ma et al., 2010). Recent results, using Southern blot hybridisation and sequence analysis have revealed a high degree of structural and physical conservation in the telomeric and subtelomeric regions of the wild type strain (4287), extending approximately 10 kilobases from the chromosome ends. The evolutionary origin of this highly conserved region is currently unknown. In order to analyse the role of these conserved regions in the maintenance and plasticity of chromosome structure, we are studying their functionality in Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a heterologous model system.