Dataset Information

A Network Approach of Gene Co-expression in the Zea mays/Aspergillus flavus Pathosystem to Map Host/Pathogen Interaction Pathways.

ABSTRACT: A gene co-expression network (GEN) was generated using a dual RNA-seq study with the fungal pathogen Aspergillus flavus and its plant host Zea mays during the initial 3 days of infection. The analysis deciphered novel pathways and mapped genes of interest in both organisms during the infection. This network revealed a high degree of connectivity in many of the previously recognized pathways in Z. mays such as jasmonic acid, ethylene, and reactive oxygen species (ROS). For the pathogen A. flavus, a link between aflatoxin production and vesicular transport was identified within the network. There was significant interspecies correlation of expression between Z. mays and A. flavus for a subset of 104 Z. mays, and 1942 A. flavus genes. This resulted in an interspecies subnetwork enriched in multiple Z. mays genes involved in the production of ROS. In addition to the ROS from Z. mays, there was enrichment in the vesicular transport pathways and the aflatoxin pathway for A. flavus. Included in these genes, a key aflatoxin cluster regulator, AflS, was found to be co-regulated with multiple Z. mays ROS producing genes within the network, suggesting AflS may be monitoring host ROS levels. The entire GEN for both host and pathogen, and the subset of interspecies correlations, is presented as a tool for hypothesis generation and discovery for events in the early stages of fungal infection of Z. mays by A. flavus.

SUBMITTER: Musungu BM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5116468 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

A Network Approach of Gene Co-expression in the Zea mays/Aspergillus flavus Pathosystem to Map Host/Pathogen Interaction Pathways.

Musungu Bryan M BM Bhatnagar Deepak D Brown Robert L RL Payne Gary A GA OBrian Greg G Fakhoury Ahmad M AM Geisler Matt M

Frontiers in genetics 20161121

A gene co-expression network (GEN) was generated using a dual RNA-seq study with the fungal pathogen Aspergillus flavus and its plant host Zea mays during the initial 3 days of infection. The analysis deciphered novel pathways and mapped genes of interest in both organisms during the infection. This network revealed a high degree of connectivity in many of the previously recognized pathways in Z. mays such as jasmonic acid, ethylene, and reactive oxygen species (ROS). For th ...[more]

PMID: 27917194

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Project description:The interaction between Aspergillus flavus and Zea mays is complex, and the identification of plant genes and pathways conferring resistance to the fungus has been challenging. Therefore authors undertook a systems biology approach involving dual RNA-seq to determine simultaneous response from the host and pathogen. What was dramatically highlighted in the analysis was upon infection there is uniformity in the development of the host and pathogen. This led to the development of host-pathogen index which was able to categorize the samples for down-stream system biology analysis. Additionally we were able to determine key genes in the pathways such as jasmonate, ethylene and ROS which were up-regulated in the studyThe stage of infection index used for the transcriptomic analysis revealed that A. flavus does not produce many transcripts initially during pathogenesis. It was found that when A. flavus was producing an abundance of transcripts, pathways involved the endosomal transport, aflatoxin production, sugar production and many others were up-regulated. In tandem, Z. mays had multiple resistance pathways, such as the phenylpropaniod, jasmonic acid and ethylene pathways that were up-regulated. The analysis of the gene regulatory networks revealed that multiple WRKY genes were targeting the activation of the resistance pathways. The analysis also revealed, for the first time, the activation of Z. mays resistance genes targeting A. flavus genes. Our results show that the plant-microbe interaction has multiple layers and that A. flavus transcriptionally reacts to the hostile environment of Z. mays. The interaction between Aspergillus flavus and Zea mays is complex, and the identification of plant genes and pathways conferring resistance to the fungus has been challenging. Therefore authors undertook a systems biology approach involving dual RNA-seq to determine simultaneous response from the host and pathogen. What was dramatically highlighted in the analysis was upon infection there is uniformity in the development of the host and pathogen. This led to the development of host-pathogen index which was able to categorize the samples for down-stream system biology analysis. Additionally we were able to determine key genes in the pathways such as jasmonate, ethylene and ROS which were up-regulated in the studyThe stage of infection index used for the transcriptomic analysis revealed that A. flavus does not produce many transcripts initially during pathogenesis. It was found that when A. flavus was producing an abundance of transcripts, pathways involved the endosomal transport, aflatoxin production, sugar production and many others were up-regulated. In tandem, Z. mays had multiple resistance pathways, such as the phenylpropaniod, jasmonic acid and ethylene pathways that were up-regulated. The analysis of the gene regulatory networks revealed that multiple WRKY genes were targeting the activation of the resistance pathways. The analysis also revealed, for the first time, the activation of Z. mays resistance genes targeting A. flavus genes. Our results show that the plant-microbe interaction has multiple layers and that A. flavus transcriptionally reacts to the hostile environment of Z. mays. The interaction between Aspergillus flavus and Zea mays is complex, and the identification of plant genes and pathways conferring resistance to the fungus has been challenging. Therefore authors undertook a systems biology approach involving dual RNA-seq to determine simultaneous response from the host and pathogen. What was dramatically highlighted in the analysis was upon infection there is uniformity in the development of the host and pathogen. This led to the development of host-pathogen index which was able to categorize the samples for down-stream system biology analysis. Additionally we were able to determine key genes in the pathways such as jasmonate, ethylene and ROS which were up-regulated in the studyThe stage of infection index used for the transcriptomic analysis revealed that A. flavus does not produce many transcripts initially during pathogenesis. It was found that when A. flavus was producing an abundance of transcripts, pathways involved the endosomal transport, aflatoxin production, sugar production and many others were up-regulated. In tandem, Z. mays had multiple resistance pathways, such as the phenylpropaniod, jasmonic acid and ethylene pathways that were up-regulated. The analysis of the gene regulatory networks revealed that multiple WRKY genes were targeting the activation of the resistance pathways. The analysis also revealed, for the first time, the activation of Z. mays resistance genes targeting A. flavus genes. Our results show that the plant-microbe interaction has multiple layers and that A. flavus transcriptionally reacts to the hostile environment of Z. mays.

Dataset Information

A Network Approach of Gene Co-expression in the Zea mays/Aspergillus flavus Pathosystem to Map Host/Pathogen Interaction Pathways.

Publications

A Network Approach of Gene Co-expression in the <i>Zea mays</i>/<i>Aspergillus flavus</i> Pathosystem to Map Host/Pathogen Interaction Pathways.

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