title: Deep sequencing analysis of transcriptomes in Aspergillus flavus in response to resveratrol.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Resveratrol has been reported as a natural phytoalexin that inhibits infection or the growth of certain fungi including Aspergillus flavus. Our previous research revealed that aflatoxin production in A. flavus was reduced in medium with resveratrol. To understand the molecular mechanism of the A. flavus response to resveratrol treatment, the high-throughput paired-end RNA-Seq was applied to analyze the transcriptomic profiles of A. flavus.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In total, 366 and 87 genes of A. flavus were significantly up- and down- regulated, respectively, when the fungus was treated with resveratrol. Gene Ontology (GO) functional enrichment analysis revealed that 48 significantly differentially expressed genes were involved in 6 different terms. Most genes in the aflatoxin biosynthetic pathway genes cluster (#54) did not show a significant change when A. flavus was treated with resveratrol, but 23 of the 30 genes in the #54 cluster were down-regulated. The transcription of aflA and aflB was significantly suppressed under resveratrol treatment, resulting in an insufficient amount of the starter unit hexanoate for aflatoxin biosynthesis. In addition, resveratrol significantly increased the activity of antioxidative enzymes that destroy radicals, leading to decreased aflatoxin production. Moreover, stuA, fluG, flbC, and others genes involved in mycelial and conidial development were down-regulated, which disrupted the cell's orderly differentiation and blocked conidia formation and mycelia development. The transcripts of laeA and veA were slightly inhibited by resveratrol, which may partly decrease aflatoxin production and depress conidia formation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Resveratrol can affect the expression of A. flavus genes that are related to developmental and secondary metabolic processes, resulting in decreased aflatoxin production and conidia formation and could also cause abnormal mycelia development. These results provide insight into the transcriptome of A. flavus in response to resveratrol and a new clew for further study in regulation of aflatoxin biosynthesis in A. flavus.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Oil Crop Biology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Oil Crops Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, 430062, China. wanghoumiao@163.com.|Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences-International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics Joint Laboratory for Groundnut Aflatoxin Management, Wuhan, 430062, China. wanghoumiao@163.com.
authors.forename: Houmiao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Oil Crop Biology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Oil Crops Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, 430062, China. leiyong@caas.cn.|Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences-International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics Joint Laboratory for Groundnut Aflatoxin Management, Wuhan, 430062, China. leiyong@caas.cn.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lei
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Oil Crop Biology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Oil Crops Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, 430062, China. yanliying2002@126.com.|Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences-International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics Joint Laboratory for Groundnut Aflatoxin Management, Wuhan, 430062, China. yanliying2002@126.com.
authors.forename: Liying
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Oil Crop Biology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Oil Crops Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, 430062, China. cke20040427@aliyun.com.|Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences-International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics Joint Laboratory for Groundnut Aflatoxin Management, Wuhan, 430062, China. cke20040427@aliyun.com.
authors.forename: Ke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Institute of Agro-Products Processing Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100193, China. daixiaofeng@caas.cn.
authors.forename: Xiaofeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Oil Crop Biology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Oil Crops Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, 430062, China. wanliyun@caas.cn.|Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences-International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics Joint Laboratory for Groundnut Aflatoxin Management, Wuhan, 430062, China. wanliyun@caas.cn.
authors.forename: Liyun
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.affiliation: Institute of Agro-Products Processing Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100193, China. iewguo@126.com.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Oil Crop Biology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Oil Crops Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, 430062, China. chengliangmei1984@126.com.|Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences-International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics Joint Laboratory for Groundnut Aflatoxin Management, Wuhan, 430062, China. chengliangmei1984@126.com.
authors.forename: Liangqiang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Oil Crop Biology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Oil Crops Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, 430062, China. liaoboshou@163.com.|Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences-International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics Joint Laboratory for Groundnut Aflatoxin Management, Wuhan, 430062, China. liaoboshou@163.com.
authors.forename: Boshou
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Liao
mesh_terms: D000348:Aflatoxins / Q000096:biosynthesis; D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001231:Aspergillus flavus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015966:Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal / Q000187:drug effects*; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D025282:Mycelium / Q000254:growth & development; D000077185:Resveratrol; D013172:Spores, Fungal / Q000254:growth & development; D013267:Stilbenes / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D000348:Aflatoxins; D000935:Antifungal Agents; D013267:Stilbenes; D000077185:Resveratrol