Project description:Insect pathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana in one of the best studied insect biocontrol fungus, which infects insects by cuticle penetration. After breaking the cuticles, the fungus will propagate in insect hemocoel and kill insect hosts. It has also been found that the mycelia of B. bassiana can penetrate plant tissues to reach insect inside plant, e.g. corn borer (Ostrinia furnacalis), but do not cause damage to plants. The mechanism of fungal physiological plasticity is poorly understood. To accompany our genome sequencing work of B. bassiana strain ARSEF 2860, fungal transcriptional responses to different niches were studied using an Illumina RNA_seq technique. To examine fungal response to insect cuticle, conidia were inoculated on locust hind wings for 24 hours before used for RNA extraction. To evaluate fungal adaptation to insect hemocole, the fifth instar larvae of cotton bollworms were injected with spore suspension and fungal cells isolated by centrifugation in a step gradient buffer. To unveil the mechanism of interaction with plants, the fungus was grown in corn root exudates for 24 hours. After RNA sequencing, around three million tags were acquired for each sample and fungal transcriptional profiles were compared.
Project description:Insect pathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana in one of the best studied insect biocontrol fungus, which infects insects by cuticle penetration. After breaking the cuticles, the fungus will propagate in insect hemocoel and kill insect hosts. It has also been found that the mycelia of B. bassiana can penetrate plant tissues to reach insect inside plant, e.g. corn borer (Ostrinia furnacalis), but do not cause damage to plants. The mechanism of fungal physiological plasticity is poorly understood. To accompany our genome sequencing work of B. bassiana strain ARSEF 2860, fungal transcriptional responses to different niches were studied using an Illumina RNA_seq technique. To examine fungal response to insect cuticle, conidia were inoculated on locust hind wings for 24 hours before used for RNA extraction. To evaluate fungal adaptation to insect hemocole, the fifth instar larvae of cotton bollworms were injected with spore suspension and fungal cells isolated by centrifugation in a step gradient buffer. To unveil the mechanism of interaction with plants, the fungus was grown in corn root exudates for 24 hours. After RNA sequencing, around three million tags were acquired for each sample and fungal transcriptional profiles were compared. Unveiling gene differential expression patterns when the insect biocontrol fungus Beauveria bassiana grown in insect hemocoel, corn root exudates and on insect cuticles.
Project description:The treatment of Plutella xylostella and Spodoptera litura with spore suspensions of Cordyceps fumosorosea showed high lethal effect on Plutella xylostella and poor lethal effect on Spodoptera litura. Therefore, the epiderms of the two insects were immersed in the spore suspensions of the strains and the mycelia were filtered out for protein sequencing.
Project description:Fungal spores, abundant in the environment, are a major cause of asthma. But the precise host response that triggers fungal allergic airway inflammation remains unclear. We found that CD11c+ DCs and CD4+ T cells are essential for development of airway inflammation in mice when repeatedly exposed to inhaled spores. To delinate which DC subsets are mediating fungal allergic inflammation we undertook single cell RNAseq of DCs isolated from the lungs of mice exposed to fungal spores. This identified precise subsets altered upon spore exposure and following targeted removal identified distinct DC subsets (Mgl2+ cDC2s) that are essential for fungal allergic airway inflammation.
Project description:In opportunistic human pathogenic fungi, changes in gene expression play a crucial role in the evolution of growth stages from early spore germination through host infection. Comparative transcriptomics from diverse fungal pathogens along closely related non-pathogenic model provided insights of regulatory mechanisms behind the initiation of infectious processes by different fungi. We examined the gene expression patterns of 3,845 single-copy orthologous genes (SCOGs) across five phylogenetically distinct species, including the opportunistic human pathogens Fusarium oxysporum, Aspergillus fumigatus, and A. nidulans, and nonpathogenic species Neurospora crassa and Trichoderma asperelloides, at four sequential stages spore germination.
Project description:Gene BbHapX plays an essential role in maturation of conidia, a dorminant spore type for the biocontrol potential of entomopathogenic fungi. The genome-wide expression analysis involved in fungal development was analyzed by using high throughput sequencing (RNA-Seq). Our transcriptional profiles revealed that numerous differentially expressed genes (DEGs), of which involved in metabolism, cell transport and cell rescue, were significantly involved in asexual development of B. bassiana.
Project description:Fungal resistant and susceptible maize genotypes were subjected to Aspergillus flavus spore inoculation and kernels around the infected area were collected 4 days after inoculation. Uninoculated kernels were also collected at 4 days. Microarray experiment was performed to compare the transcriptional profiles of the different genotypes and interpret the genes involved in the associated resistance of the individual genotype to further characterize them as potential molecular markers for resistance.
Project description:Epigenetic modification is important for cellular functions. Trimethylation of histone H3 lysine 4 (H3K4me3), which associates with transcriptional activation, is one of the important epigenetic modifications. In this study, the biological functions of UvKmt2-mediated H3K4me3 modification were characterized in Ustilaginoidea virens, which is the causal agent of the false smut disease, one of the most destructive diseases in rice. Phenotypic analyses of the ΔUvkmt2 mutant revealed that UvKMT2 is necessary for growth, conidiation, secondary spore formation, and virulence in U. virens. Immunoblotting and chromatin immunoprecipitation assay followed by sequencing (ChIP-seq) showed that UvKMT2 is required for the establishment of H3K4me3, which covers 1729 genes of the genome in U. virens. In particular, H3K4me3 modification involves in the transcriptional regulation of conidiation-related and pathogenic genes. The down-regulation of UvHOG1 and UvPMK1 genes may be one of the main reasons for the reduced pathogenicity and stresses adaptability of the ∆Uvkmt2 mutant. Overall, H3K4me3, established by histone methyltransferase UvKMT2, contributes to fungal development, secondary spore formation, virulence, and various stresses response through transcriptional regulation in U. virens.