Project description:Purpose: This transcriptomic analysis aims at unveiling all possible genes orchestrated by Cfp1, which is evidently required for insect pathogenicity and virulence-related cellular events of Metarhizium robertsii. Methods: Total RNAs were extracted from three 3-day-old hyphal cultures (replicates) of cfp1 disruption and wild-type strains grown under normal culture conditionsand and subjected to deep sequencing on Illumina NovaseqTM 6000 platform. The sequence reads that passed quality filters were mapped to the genome of Metarhizium robertsii. All genes differentially expressed in the disruptant versus the wild-type strain were enriched to GO function classes and KEGG pathways. Results: The resultant transcriptome comprises 10681 detected genes. Among those, 605 genes were dysregulated in the absence of cfp1, including 356 down-regulated and 249 up-regulated. Conclusions: Cfp1 lacking any predictable function domain has profound impact on the genomic expression of Metarhizium robertsii.
Project description:A spontaneously phenotypically degenerated strain of M. robertsii strain ARSEF 2575 (M. robertsii lc2575; lc = low conidiation) showed a reduction in conidiation and fungal virulence after successive subculturing on artificial medium. However, the conidial production and fungal virulence of a phenotypically degenerated M. robertsii were recovered by serially passaging through a plant host. The DNA methylation level of phenotypically degenerated Metarhizium robertsii M. robertsii lc2575 and this fungi after solider bean passages were tested through the whole genome bisulfite sequencing. The results showed that approximately 0.379 % of cytosines are methylated in the fungi after bean passages, almost the same as the DNA methylation level in M. robertsii lc2575 (0.375%). The distribution of different methylated regions located more on intergenic regions of fungi after bean passages than M. robertsii lc2575. Gene Ontology (GO) analysis and KEGG analysis of DMR-associated genes revealed that amino acid, carbohydrate and fatty acid metabolism.
Project description:Transcription factor Msn2 played crucial roles in mediating fungal stress tolerance, a determinant to the biocontrol potential of fungal entomopathogens. We characterized for the first time the functions of Beauveria bassiana Msn2 (BbMsn2) and Metarhizium robertsii (MrMsn2) by analyzing multi-phenotypic changes in Msn2-deletion and investigating transcription patterns of WT versus M-NM-^TMsn2 of B. bassiana and M. robertsii under thermal and oxidative stresses by using high throughput sequencing (RNA-Seq). Our transcriptional profiles revealed that numerous differentially expressed genes (DEGs), of which involved in transportation, detoxification, signal transduction, and energy metabolism, were significantly repressed in expression level. Total RNA obtained from Bbmsn2 and MrMsn2 disruption mutant subjected to 2 mM menadione and 40 M-BM-0C for 3-h response compared to the wild type strain under the same stress treatment.
Project description:Transcription factor Msn2 played crucial roles in mediating fungal stress tolerance, a determinant to the biocontrol potential of fungal entomopathogens. We characterized for the first time the functions of Beauveria bassiana Msn2 (BbMsn2) and Metarhizium robertsii (MrMsn2) by analyzing multi-phenotypic changes in Msn2-deletion and investigating transcription patterns of WT versus ΔMsn2 of B. bassiana and M. robertsii under thermal and oxidative stresses by using high throughput sequencing (RNA-Seq). Our transcriptional profiles revealed that numerous differentially expressed genes (DEGs), of which involved in transportation, detoxification, signal transduction, and energy metabolism, were significantly repressed in expression level.
Project description:Identifying the genetic basis for natural selection is a fundamental research goal, and particularly significant for soil fungi because of their central role in ecosystem functioning. Here, we identify rapid evolutionary processes in the plant root colonizing insect pathogen Metarhizium robertsii. While adapting to a new soil community, expression of TATA box containing cell wall and stress response genes evolved at an accelerated rate, whereas virulence determinants, transposons and chromosome structure were unaltered. The survival of diversified field isolates was increased, confirming that the mutations were adaptive, and we further show that large populations of Metarhizium are principally maintained by associations with plant roots rather than insect populations. These results provide a mechanistic basis for understanding mutational and selective effects on soil microbes.