Comparative genomics of canonical antifungal dsRNA target genes across fungal plant pathogens: conserved siRNA-length windows define the scope for broad-spectrum spray-induced gene silencing

Perfect 21-nt siRNA target-site identity for canonical antifungal dsRNA genes is scarce across fungal plant pathogens, with only 7.8% of 27,116 sites conserved beyond Fusarium graminearum.

• Why it matters: Broad-spectrum spray-induced gene silencing depends on whether conserved housekeeping targets exist at siRNA-length resolution across the fungal pathogen tree, not just by overall gene similarity.
• What they did: The authors screened eleven canonical antifungal dsRNA target genes from Fusarium graminearum (CYP51 sterol 14-alpha-demethylases, chitin synthases, and beta-tubulins) for perfect 21-mer matches across transcriptomes of twelve fungal plant pathogens spanning four taxonomic classes.
• The result: Conservation decayed with phylogenetic distance (e.g., 1,209 sites in the congener F. oxysporum, 41–48 in Basidiomycota, and one in Blumeria graminis), with beta-tubulins most broadly shared and CYP51C least, implying clade-limited broad-spectrum SIGS.

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