The use of global transcriptional analysis to reveal the biological and cellular events involved in distinct development phases of Trichophyton rubrum conidial germination.
BACKGROUND
Conidia are considered to be the primary cause of infections by Trichophyton rubrum.


RESULTS
We have developed a cDNA microarray containing 10250 ESTs to monitor the transcriptional strategy of conidial germination. A total of 1561 genes that had their expression levels specially altered in the process were obtained and hierarchically clustered with respect to their expression profiles. By functional analysis, we provided a global view of an important biological system related to conidial germination, including characterization of the pattern of gene expression at sequential developmental phases, and changes of gene expression profiles corresponding to morphological transitions. We matched the EST sequences to GO terms in the Saccharomyces Genome Database (SGD). A number of homologues of Saccharomyces cerevisiae genes related to signalling pathways and some important cellular processes were found to be involved in T. rubrum germination. These genes and signalling pathways may play roles in distinct steps, such as activating conidial germination, maintenance of isotropic growth, establishment of cell polarity and morphological transitions.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results may provide insights into molecular mechanisms of conidial germination at the cell level, and may enhance our understanding of regulation of gene expression related to the morphological construction of T. rubrum.
Liu
Tao
T
State Key Lab for Molecular Virology and Genetic Engineering, Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, PR China. liutao0508@yahoo.com.cn <liutao0508@yahoo.com.cn>
Zhang
Qian
Q
Wang
Lingling
L
Yu
Lu
L
Leng
Wenchuan
W
Yang
Jian
J
Chen
Lihong
L
Peng
Junping
J
Ma
Li
L
Dong
Jie
J
Xu
Xingye
X
Xue
Ying
Y
Zhu
Yafang
Y
Zhang
Wenliang
W
Yang
Li
L
Li
Weijun
W
Sun
Lilian
L
Wan
Zhe
Z
Ding
Guohui
G
Yu
Fudong
F
Tu
Kang
K
Qian
Ziliang
Z
Li
Ruoyu
R
Shen
Yan
Y
Li
Yixue
Y
Jin
Qi
Q
D000818:Animals; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D019295:Computational Biology; D020224:Expressed Sequence Tags; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling / Q000379:methods*; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D015966:Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal; D005800:Genes, Fungal; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology; D013172:Spores, Fungal / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D014249:Trichophyton / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development*