Long-Read Sequencing and Comparative Genome Analyses of Seven Emergomyces Type-Strains

Abstract

Emergomyces (Ajellomycetaceae, Onygenales) is a genus of dimorphic fungal pathogens that cause severe, opportunistic infections around the world. We used long-read nanopore sequencing to generate de novo genome assemblies followed by comparative analyses for the type-strains of Emergomyces africanus, Emergomyces canadensis, Emergomyces crescens, Emergomyces europaeus, Emergomyces orientalis, Emergomyces pasteurianus, and Emergomyces soli. The average Emergomyces genome was found to be 32,965,087 bp in size (range 28,687,700-35,863,369 bp) with GC%-contents of 42.01-45.72%. Average Nucleotide Identity analysis of the seven type-strain genomes with the publicly available Emergomyces and Blastomyces genomes was performed, showing values of 85-100% similarity between genomes and 85-91% between the twelve species tested. Furthermore, we formally validate the species descriptions for Emergomyces crescens and Emergomyces soli.