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Publications

Journal Article Ahead of print

PubMed: 42715380 DOI: 10.1093/g3journal/jkag254

Spore type-specific gene expression profiles underlying development and leaf infection processes of Colletotrichum graminicola.

G3 (Bethesda)

Authors: Disha Rathi, Karsten Andresen, Rolf Daniel, Marco Alexandre Guerreiro, Matthias Kretschmer, James Kronstad, Minou Nowrousian, Stefanie Pöggeler, Anja Poehlein, Lars M Voll, Daniela Elisabeth Nordzieke

Affiliations

  • Institute of Microbiology and Genetics, Genetics of Eukaryotic Microorganisms, University of Göttingen, GZMB, Göttingen, 37077, Germany.
  • Institute of Molecular Physiology, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, 55128, Germany.
  • Genomic and Applied Microbiology & Göttingen Genomics Laboratory, Institute of Microbiology and Genetics, Georg-August University of Göttingen, Göttingen, 37077, Germany.
  • Environmental Genomics Group, Botanical Institute, Christian-Albrechts University of Kiel, Kiel, 24118, Germany. Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, Plön, 24306, Germany.
  • The Michael Smith Laboratories, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, V6T 1Z4, British Columbia, Canada.
  • Department of Molecular and Cellular Botany, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Bochum, 44870, Germany.
  • Marburg University, Department Biology, Molecular Plant Physiology, Marburg, 35043, Germany.
  • Center for Synthetic Microbiology (SYNMIKRO), Marburg University, Marburg, 35043, Germany.
  • Department of Applied Genetics and Cell Biology, Institute of Microbial Genetics, BOKU University Vienna, Tulln/Donau, 3430, Austria.

Abstract

Colletotrichum graminicola causes significant losses of the staple crop maize worldwide. The fungus produces two distinct asexual spore types, oval and falcate conidia, which show unique processes in development and plant interaction. Based on genome resequencing of our laboratory strain (CgM2/M1.001), we investigated the gene expression profiles of oval and falcate conidia during development and early leaf infection using RNA-seq. Our results reveal specific gene expression profiles between the two spore types, indicating fundamental differences in their developmental programs that reflect different modes of infection. We identified expression patterns discriminating both conidia types from mycelium and spore type-specific ones for genes encoding transcription factors, conserved fungal developmental genes, transporters, genes of secondary metabolite clusters, and pathogenicity-related functions, including effectors and carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes). Our study shows that despite the identical genomic basis, oval and falcate conidia show unique transcriptomes across vegetative development and early plant interaction. Taking together, these results provide new insights into the molecular mechanisms determining the biology of C. graminicola and its interaction with the plant host.

MeSH

Genes, Genetics, Spores, Colletotrichum, Infections, Gene Expression