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From yeast to hypha: defining transcriptomic signatures of the morphological switch in the dimorphic fungal pathogen Ophiostoma novo-ulmi.

ABSTRACT: Yeast-to-hypha transition is a major morphological change in fungi. Molecular regulators and pathways that are involved in this process have been extensively studied in model species, including Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The Mitogen-Actived Protein Kinase (MAPK) cascade, for example, is known to be involved in the yeast-to-pseudohypha switch. Yet the conservation of mechanisms regulating such morphological changes in non-model fungi is still poorly understood. Here, we investigate cell remodeling and transcriptomic modifications that occur during this morphological switch in the highly aggressive ascomycete fungus Ophiostoma novo-ulmi, the causal agent of Dutch elm disease.Using a combination of light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and flow cytometry, we demonstrate that the morphological switch occurs in less than 27 h, with phenotypic cell modifications being detected within the first 4 h. Using RNAseq, we found that over 22% of the genome of O. novo-ulmi is differentially expressed during the transition. By performing clustering analyses of time series gene expression data, we identified several sets of genes that are differentially expressed according to distinct and representative temporal profiles. Further, we found that several genes that are homologous to S. cerevisiae MAPK genes are regulated during the yeast-to-hypha transition in O. novo-ulmi and mostly over-expressed, suggesting convergence in gene expression regulation.Our results are the first report of a time-course experiment monitoring the morphological transition in a non-model Sordariomycota species and reveal many genes of interest for further functional investigations of fungal dimorphism.

SUBMITTER: Nigg M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5111228 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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From yeast to hypha: defining transcriptomic signatures of the morphological switch in the dimorphic fungal pathogen Ophiostoma novo-ulmi.

Nigg M M Bernier L L

BMC genomics 20161115 1

<h4>Background</h4>Yeast-to-hypha transition is a major morphological change in fungi. Molecular regulators and pathways that are involved in this process have been extensively studied in model species, including Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The Mitogen-Actived Protein Kinase (MAPK) cascade, for example, is known to be involved in the yeast-to-pseudohypha switch. Yet the conservation of mechanisms regulating such morphological changes in non-model fungi is still poorly understood. Here, we investig ...[more]

PMID: 27846799

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Project description:BackgroundThe highly aggressive pathogenic fungus Ophiostoma novo-ulmi continues to be a serious threat to the American elm (Ulmus americana) in North America. Extensive studies have been conducted in North America to understand the mechanisms of virulence of this introduced pathogen and its evolving population structure, with a view to identifying potential strategies for the control of Dutch elm disease. As part of a larger study to examine the genomes of economically important Ophiostoma spp. and the genetic basis of virulence, we have constructed an expressed sequence tag (EST) library using total RNA extracted from the yeast-like growth phase of O. novo-ulmi (isolate H327).ResultsA total of 4,386 readable EST sequences were annotated by determining their closest matches to known or theoretical sequences in public databases by BLASTX analysis. Searches matched 2,093 sequences to entries found in Genbank, including 1,761 matches with known proteins and 332 matches with unknown (hypothetical/predicted) proteins. Known proteins included a collection of 880 unique transcripts which were categorized to obtain a functional profile of the transcriptome and to evaluate physiological function. These assignments yielded 20 primary functional categories (FunCat), the largest including Metabolism (FunCat 01, 20.28% of total), Sub-cellular localization (70, 10.23%), Protein synthesis (12, 10.14%), Transcription (11, 8.27%), Biogenesis of cellular components (42, 8.15%), Cellular transport, facilitation and routes (20, 6.08%), Classification unresolved (98, 5.80%), Cell rescue, defence and virulence (32, 5.31%) and the unclassified category, or known sequences of unknown metabolic function (99, 7.5%). A list of specific transcripts of interest was compiled to initiate an evaluation of their impact upon strain virulence in subsequent studies.ConclusionsThis is the first large-scale study of the O. novo-ulmi transcriptome. The expression profile obtained from the yeast-like growth phase of this species will facilitate a multigenic approach to gene expression studies to assess their role in the determination of pathogenicity for this species. The identification and evaluation of gene targets in such studies will be a prerequisite to the development of biological control strategies for this pathogen.

Dataset Information

From yeast to hypha: defining transcriptomic signatures of the morphological switch in the dimorphic fungal pathogen Ophiostoma novo-ulmi.

Publications

From yeast to hypha: defining transcriptomic signatures of the morphological switch in the dimorphic fungal pathogen Ophiostoma novo-ulmi.

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