Data from: Global distribution of mating types shows limited opportunities for mating across populations of fungi causing boxwood blight disease

<p>Boxwood blight is a disease threat to natural and managed landscapes worldwide. To determine mating potential of the fungi responsible for the disease, <em>Calonectria pseudonaviculata</em> and <em>C. henricotiae</em>, we characterized their mating-type (MAT) loci. Genomes of <em>C. henricotiae</em>, <em>C. pseudonaviculata</em> and two other <em>Calonectria</em> species (<em>C. leucothoes</em>, <em>C. naviculata</em>) were sequenced and used to design PCR tests for mating-type from 268 isolates collected from four continents. All four <em>Calonectria</em> species have a MAT locus that is structurally consistent with the organization found in heterothallic ascomycetes, with just one idiomorph per individual isolate. Mating type was subdivided by species: all <em>C. henricotiae</em> isolates possessed the <em>MAT1-1</em> idiomorph, whereas all <em>C. pseudonaviculata</em> isolates possessed the <em>MAT1-2</em> idiomorph. To determine the potential for divergence at the <em>MAT1</em> locus to present a barrier to interspecific hybridization, evolutionary analysis was conducted. Phylogenomic estimates showed that <em>C. henricotiae</em> and <em>C. pseudonaviculata</em> diverged approximately 2.1 Mya. However, syntenic comparisons, phylogenetic analyses, and estimates of nucleotide divergence across the <em>MAT1</em> locus and proximal genes identified minimal divergence in this region of the genome. These results show that in North America and parts of Europe, where only <em>C. pseudonaviculata</em> resides, mating is constrained by the absence of <em>MAT1-1</em>. In regions of Europe where <em>C. henricotiae</em> and <em>C. pseudonaviculata</em> currently share the same host and geographic range, it remains to be determined whether or not these two recently diverged species are able to overcome species barriers to mate.</p> <p>The four primary <em>Calonectria</em> genome assemblies generated as part of this study using Illumina sequencing technology are available through NCBI GenBank or through Ag Data Commons at <a href="https://doi.org/10.15482/USDA.ADC/1410184">https://doi.org/10.15482/USDA.ADC/1410184</a>. </p><div><br>Resources in this dataset:</div><br><ul><li><p>Resource Title: Website pointer to Global distribution of mating types shows limited opportunities for mating across populations of fungi causing boxwood blight disease.</p> <p>File Name: Web Page, url: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fgb.2019.103246">https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fgb.2019.103246</a> </p></li></ul><p></p>