title: Genome-Wide Transcriptome Analysis of Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) Identifies Candidate Gene Signatures in Response to Aflatoxin Producing Fungus Aspergillus flavus.
abstract: Aflatoxins are toxic and potent carcinogenic metabolites produced from the fungi Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus. Aflatoxins can contaminate cottonseed under conducive preharvest and postharvest conditions. United States federal regulations restrict the use of aflatoxin contaminated cottonseed at >20 ppb for animal feed. Several strategies have been proposed for controlling aflatoxin contamination, and much success has been achieved by the application of an atoxigenic strain of A. flavus in cotton, peanut and maize fields. Development of cultivars resistant to aflatoxin through overexpression of resistance associated genes and/or knocking down aflatoxin biosynthesis of A. flavus will be an effective strategy for controlling aflatoxin contamination in cotton. In this study, genome-wide transcriptome profiling was performed to identify differentially expressed genes in response to infection with both toxigenic and atoxigenic strains of A. flavus on cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) pericarp and seed. The genes involved in antifungal response, oxidative burst, transcription factors, defense signaling pathways and stress response were highly differentially expressed in pericarp and seed tissues in response to A. flavus infection. The cell-wall modifying genes and genes involved in the production of antimicrobial substances were more active in pericarp as compared to seed. The genes involved in auxin and cytokinin signaling were also induced. Most of the genes involved in defense response in cotton were highly induced in pericarp than in seed. The global gene expression analysis in response to fungal invasion in cotton will serve as a source for identifying biomarkers for breeding, potential candidate genes for transgenic manipulation, and will help in understanding complex plant-fungal interaction for future downstream research.
authors.affiliation: School of Plant, Environmental and Soil Sciences, Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, United States of America.
authors.forename: Renesh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bedre
authors.affiliation: Southern Regional Research Center, USDA-ARS, New Orleans, LA, 70124, United States of America.
authors.forename: Kanniah
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rajasekaran
authors.affiliation: School of Plant, Environmental and Soil Sciences, Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, United States of America.
authors.forename: Venkata Ramanarao
authors.initials: VR
authors.lastname: Mangu
authors.affiliation: School of Plant, Environmental and Soil Sciences, Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, United States of America.
authors.forename: Luis Eduardo
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Sanchez Timm
authors.affiliation: Southern Regional Research Center, USDA-ARS, New Orleans, LA, 70124, United States of America.
authors.forename: Deepak
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bhatnagar
authors.affiliation: School of Plant, Environmental and Soil Sciences, Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, United States of America.
authors.forename: Niranjan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Baisakh
mesh_terms: D000348:Aflatoxins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D001231:Aspergillus flavus / Q000378:metabolism*; D060467:Disease Resistance / Q000235:genetics; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D055106:Genome-Wide Association Study; D003368:Gossypium / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D012639:Seeds / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology; D059467:Transcriptome
chemical_list: D000348:Aflatoxins