Two new fungal phylomes have been uploaded to PhylomeDB. These are Penicillium chrysogenum and the necrotrophic fungus Penicillium digitatum. The later species is responsible of great post-harvest losses in citrus species. This phylogenomic analysis is the result of a collaboration between the Center for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona and the Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology (IATA) in Valencia, in the context of the sequencing of two strains of this  P. digitatum differing in their resistance traits. Our results, published in the journal BMC Genomics reveal that a few mutations can render a strain resistant to several fungicides, and that the global distribution of  P. digitatum is very recent, suggesting that it probably expanded in parallel to the industralization of citrus agriculture. The genome provides insights into the sexual cycle of the species, its inability to assimilate nitrate or produce penicillin or patulin.  Our phylome revealed the presence of numerous gene expansions in P. chrysogenum, mostly located in small chromosmes absent from P. digitatum. 

Marcet-Houben M, Ballester AR, de la Fuente B, Harries E, Marcos JF, González-Candelas L, Gabaldón T. (2012) Genome sequence of the necrotrophic fungus Penicillium digitatum, the main postharvest pathogen of citrus. BMC Genomics. 13:646. doi: 10.1186/1471-2164-13-646.