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Genotypic and Phenotypic Versatility of Aspergillus flavus during Maize Exploitation

ABSTRACT: Several are the inputs which are able to modulate mycotoxin synthesis. In particular, when a fungus receives an external stimulus reacts by activating, through a quite well-defined signal cascade, an evident switch in its lifestyle. This profound change is also due to the activation of global gene regulators and, in particular, of transcription factors able to switch on the mycotoxin gene clusters expression. Aflatoxins (AF) are harmful carcinogenic compounds produced mainly by Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus. AF are produced during the contamination of maize kernels into the field, even if their role in phyto-toxicity is not yet assessed. Nevertheless, AF biosynthesis is tightly regulated by host-derived signals. Recently, the nature of some of these signals have been elucidated. In particular, a role in susceptibility and resistance of maize to A. flavus contamination has been assigned to some plant oxylipins. These findings draw a scenario in which a complex interplay is under way between A. flavus and maize. For uncovering all the implications of this cross-talk we decide to follow a holistic approach. In particular, we designed experimental conditions aimed to mimic the different phases of A. flavus infection cycle on maize and then by performing a microarray analysis on the harvested mycelia. The microarray data set has been processed for performing the differential expression analysis of almost 14000 gene probes, the pathway analysis based on the gene ontology and inter pro annotations, the secondary metabolites cluster co-expression analysis and an identification of groups of co-expressed neighbor genes, possibly associated with production of secondary metabolites.

ORGANISM(S): Zea mays Aspergillus oryzae Aspergillus flavus

PROVIDER: GSE28163 | GEO | 2013/09/19

SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA139507

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Aspergillus flavus is a common saprophyte and opportunistic pathogen producing aflatoxin (AF) and many other secondary metabolites. 5-Azacytidine (5-AC), a derivative of nucleoside cytidine, is widely used for studies in epigenetics and cancer biology as an inactivator of DNA methyltransferase and is also used for studying secondary metabolism in fungi. Our previous studies showed that 5-AC affects development and inhibits AF production in A. flavus, and that A. flavus lacks DNA methylation. How this common DNA methyltransferase inhibitor affects development and AF production is not clear. In this study, we applied an RNA-Seq approach to elucidate the mechanism of 5-ACM-bM-^@M-^Ys effect on A. flavus. In our current study, we identified 240 significantly differently expressed (Q-value<0.05) genes after 5-AC treatment, including two backbone genes in secondary metabolite clusters #27 and #35, which are involved in development or survival of sclerotia. With 5-AC treatment, about three quarters of the genes in the AF biosynthetic gene cluster in A. flavus were down-regulated to a certain degree. Strikingly, at least two genes aflI and aflLa, were completely inhibited. Interestingly, several genes involved in fungal development were down-regulated, especially veA, which is a gene that encodes protein bridges VelB and LaeA. This result supports the hypothesis that 5-AC affects development and AF production through weakening or even interrupting the connection between VelB and LaeA and then causing dysregulation of the expression pattern of genes involved in development and secondary metabolism. Our results improved the A. flavus genome annotation, provided a comprehensive view of the transcriptome of A. flavus responding to 5-AC and confirmed that fungal development and secondary metabolism are co-regulated. In additon, the RNA-Seq data of another sample treated with gallic acid was used to improve A. flavus genome annotation. mRNA of Aspergillus flavus cultured in three different culture media PDB, PDB+5-AC(5-Azacytidine),and PDB+GA(gallic acid) was subjected to sequence independently.

Project description:Diverse expression patterns for secondary metabolism gene clusters from Aspergillus flavus under different environmental conditions and in genetic mutants: Insights into regulation of cyclopiazonic acid along with aflatoxin Species of Aspergillus produce a diverse array of secondary metabolites, and recent genomic analysis predicts that these species have the capacity to synthesize many more compounds. It has been possible to infer the presence of 55 gene clusters associated with secondary metabolism in A. flavus. Presumably, secondary metabolites play important roles in the ecology of the producing species, but functions for most secondary metabolites remain unknown. Only three metabolic pathways have been associated with the predicted clusters in A. flavus. These include aflatoxin, cyclopiazonic acid (CPA), and aflatrem. To gain insight into the regulation of, and infer ecological significance for the 55 secondary metabolite gene clusters predicted in A. flavus, we examined their expression over 28 diverse conditions. Variables included culture media and temperature, fungal development, colonization of developing maize seeds, and misexpression of laeA, the global regulator of secondary metabolism. Hierarchical clustering analysis of expression profiles allowed us to categorize the gene clusters into four distinct clades. Gene clusters for the production of aflatoxins, CPA, and seven other unknown compound(s) were identified as belonging to one clade. To further explore the relationships found by gene expression analysis, aflatoxin and CPA production were quantified under five different cell culture environments known to be conducive or non-conducive for aflatoxin biosynthesis and during colonization of developing maize seeds. Results from these studies showed that secondary metabolism gene clusters have distinctive gene expression profiles. Aflatoxin and CPA were found to have unique regulation but similar enough that they would be expected to co-occur in commodities colonized with A. flavus.

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Genotypic and Phenotypic Versatility of Aspergillus flavus during Maize Exploitation

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