Date of Defense
11-11-2025 11:00 AM
Location
F1-2022
Document Type
Dissertation Defense
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy in Cellular and Molecular Biology
College
COS
First Advisor
Dr. Mohammad Tauqeer Alam
Keywords
Fusarium, Fungi, Genomic Network, Metabolic Network, NCBI, Gene.
Abstract
Fusarium covers the wide genus of fungi with over 400 species that are key in agricultural and medical practice. The purpose of the current study was to perform a comprehensive genomic profiling of the 19 Fusarium species that were captured in the National Centre of Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database. The study was made to make a comparison of the data, based on the descriptive statistics of every species, with graphical representation images enabling clear demonstration of the numbers. The study indicated that the chromosomal numbers were in the range of 0-15, the gene count was roughly 11000 -19000, while that of the total nucleotide was between 37-60 million base pairs. In relation to taxonomy, it emerged that the GC content of the species averaged at 47%, which indicated that most of them were relatively stable and not evolving. Key findings from this study were the high metabolism rate of the majority of the Fusarium species studied with about 40% of them demonstrating a metabolism rate of between 1550 and 1600. The implications of these findings are that they are suitable for the biotechnological use, and industrial enzyme production. The Fusarium species with a high similarity and closer clusters in the results indicates that those strains had a similar ecological role or came from the same evolutionary origin, while the divergent cluster suggest that these differences in the gene content are due to specialization possibly to aid in the ability to adapt to a wide range of hosts or due to pathogenicity and adaptation requirements. Findings also confirm that Fusarium species studied had a vast range of accessory genes and Accessory chromosomes that are responsible in production of secondary metabolism. Key to note that the three major species F. oxysporum f.sp. lycopersici and F. solani, whose high metabolism rate puts them as a suitable candidate for industrial use. However, it is imperative to note that such highly metabolic and gene metabolic Fusariums tend to evolve and hence creating resistance against drugs and pesticides. Understanding the genomic structure of the Fusarium helps in revealing their virulence or utilization in biotechnology.
Included in
GENOMIC AND METABOLIC NETWORK CHARACTERIZATION OF FUSARIUM SPECIES
F1-2022
Fusarium covers the wide genus of fungi with over 400 species that are key in agricultural and medical practice. The purpose of the current study was to perform a comprehensive genomic profiling of the 19 Fusarium species that were captured in the National Centre of Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database. The study was made to make a comparison of the data, based on the descriptive statistics of every species, with graphical representation images enabling clear demonstration of the numbers. The study indicated that the chromosomal numbers were in the range of 0-15, the gene count was roughly 11000 -19000, while that of the total nucleotide was between 37-60 million base pairs. In relation to taxonomy, it emerged that the GC content of the species averaged at 47%, which indicated that most of them were relatively stable and not evolving. Key findings from this study were the high metabolism rate of the majority of the Fusarium species studied with about 40% of them demonstrating a metabolism rate of between 1550 and 1600. The implications of these findings are that they are suitable for the biotechnological use, and industrial enzyme production. The Fusarium species with a high similarity and closer clusters in the results indicates that those strains had a similar ecological role or came from the same evolutionary origin, while the divergent cluster suggest that these differences in the gene content are due to specialization possibly to aid in the ability to adapt to a wide range of hosts or due to pathogenicity and adaptation requirements. Findings also confirm that Fusarium species studied had a vast range of accessory genes and Accessory chromosomes that are responsible in production of secondary metabolism. Key to note that the three major species F. oxysporum f.sp. lycopersici and F. solani, whose high metabolism rate puts them as a suitable candidate for industrial use. However, it is imperative to note that such highly metabolic and gene metabolic Fusariums tend to evolve and hence creating resistance against drugs and pesticides. Understanding the genomic structure of the Fusarium helps in revealing their virulence or utilization in biotechnology.