Patterns of Genomic Variations in the Plant Pathogen Dickeya solani

The plant pathogen Dickeya solani causes soft rot and blackleg diseases in several crops including Solanum tuberosum. Unveiling the patterns of its diversity contributes to understanding the emergence and virulence of this pathogen in potato agro-systems. In this study, we analyzed the genome of several D. solani strains exhibiting an atypically high number of genetic variations. Variant calling and phylogenomics support the evidence that the strains RNS10-105-1A, A623S-20A-17 and RNS05.1.2A belong to a divergent sub-group of D. solani for which we proposed RNS05.1.2A as a reference strain. In addition, we showed that the variations (1253 to 1278 snp/indels) in strains RNS13-30-1A, RNS13-31-1A and RNS13-48-1A were caused by a horizontal gene transfer event from a donor belonging to the D. solani RNS05.1.2A subgroup. The overall results highlight the patterns driving the diversification in D. solani species. This work contributes to understanding patterns and causes of diversity in the emerging pathogen D. solani.