Project description:Cercospora armoraciae causes leaf spot disease on Armoracia rusticana. Exudation of droplets, when grown on PDA, distinguishes this fungi from other members of the genus Cercospora. The role this exudate plays in the virulence of this pathogen has not been elucidated. To explore this, we characterized the proteome of exudate associated with this plant pathogen. Nano-HPLC-MS/MS analysis was used to identify proteins in the pathogen exudate. A total of 576 proteins comprising 1,538 peptides, 1,524 unique peptide, were identified from the exudate.
Project description:We investigated the metabolism of six secondary metabolite producing fungi of the Penicillium genus, during nutrient depletion in the stationary phase of batch fermentations and assessed conserved metabolic responses across species using genome-wide transcriptional profiling. Coexpression analysis revealed that expression of secondary metabolite biosynthetic genes correlates with expression of genes associated with pathways responsible for generation of precursor metabolites for secondary metabolism. Our results highlight the main metabolic routes for precursor supply of the secondary metabolism during nutrient depletion, and suggests that regulation of fungal metabolism is tailored to meet the demands for secondary metabolite production. These findings can aid in identifying wild type species, which are optimized for production of specific secondary metabolites, and therefore can be utilized as high yielding cell factories.
Project description:Purpose: The aim was to compare the transcriptome (using RNASeq) of a Cercospora zeina-resistant line (RIL387) and a Cercospora zeina susceptible line (RIL165), following inoculation by Cercospora zeina, in order to identify the defense responses associated with each line. Methods: Plants were grown in rows in three randomised blocks. Natural infection with Cercospora zeina was allowed to take place. Infected leves were harvested at the R5-early dent stage. Three leaves (one per plant) were harvested per block and pooled to make up one biological rep. One biological rep was harvested per block for each line. RNA was extracted and sequenced using Illumina. Sequencing reads were mapped to the B73 reference genome and were analysed using the Tuxedo suite of tools (Top hat, Cufflinks, Cuffmerge and Cuffdiff). Results: 5349 genes were differentially expressed between RIL165 and RIL387. In order to dissect responses specific to RIL165 and RIL387, 2394 genes with Log2FC ≤-1 were defined as having higher expression in RIL165 compared to RIL387 and 1393 genes with a Log2FC ≥1 as having increased expression in RIL387 compared to RIL165. Nine genes were validated using RT-qPCR. Four reference genes were included in the RT-qPCR analysis. Differentially expressed genes were further analysed for GO enrichment and pathway representation. Conclusions: Our RNA-Seq results show that a resistant and susceptible line repond differently to infection with Cercospora zeina, as differentially expressed genes were identified between the two lines.