title: Comparative Transcriptome Analyses in Zymoseptoria tritici Reveal Significant Differences in Gene Expression Among Strains During Plant Infection.
abstract: Zymoseptoria tritici is an ascomycete fungus that causes Septoria tritici blotch, a globally distributed foliar disease on wheat. Z. tritici populations are highly polymorphic and exhibit significant quantitative variation for virulence. Despite its importance, the genes responsible for quantitative virulence in this pathogen remain largely unknown. We investigated the expression profiles of four Z. tritici strains differing in virulence in an experiment conducted under uniform environmental conditions. Transcriptomes were compared at four different infection stages to characterize the regulation of gene families thought to be involved in virulence and to identify new virulence factors. The major components of the fungal infection transcriptome showed consistent expression profiles across strains. However, strain-specific regulation was observed for many genes, including some encoding putative virulence factors. We postulate that strain-specific regulation of virulence factors can determine the outcome of Z. tritici infections. We show that differences in gene expression may be major determinants of virulence variation among Z. tritici strains, adding to the already known contributions to virulence variation based on differences in gene sequence and gene presence/absence polymorphisms.
authors.affiliation: 1 Plant Pathology, Institute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland; and.
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Palma-Guerrero
authors.affiliation: 1 Plant Pathology, Institute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland; and.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: 1 Plant Pathology, Institute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland; and.|2 Syngenta Crop Protection AG, Schaffhauserstrasse, 4332 Stein, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Stefano F F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Torriani
authors.affiliation: 1 Plant Pathology, Institute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland; and.
authors.forename: Marcello
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zala
authors.affiliation: 1 Plant Pathology, Institute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland; and.
authors.forename: Carolina S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Francisco
authors.affiliation: 1 Plant Pathology, Institute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland; and.
authors.forename: Fanny E
authors.initials: FE
authors.lastname: Hartmann
authors.affiliation: 1 Plant Pathology, Institute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland; and.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Croll
authors.affiliation: 1 Plant Pathology, Institute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland; and.
authors.forename: Bruce A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: McDonald
mesh_terms: D001203:Ascomycota / Q000235:genetics*; D018450:Disease Progression; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015966:Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal; D005800:Genes, Fungal; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000382:microbiology*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D059467:Transcriptome / Q000235:genetics; D014908:Triticum / Q000382:microbiology*; D014774:Virulence / Q000235:genetics; D037521:Virulence Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D005656:Fungal Proteins; D037521:Virulence Factors