Transcriptional regulation of Parastagonospora nodorum virulence by the Ada1 during wheat infection
Parastagonospora nodorum is a necrotrophic fungal pathogen and the causal agent of septoria nodorum blotch (SNB), a significant foliar disease of wheat (Triticum aestivum) with global economic impact. Pathogenicity in P. nodorum is mediated in part through the secretion of proteinaceous necrotrophic effectors, but the transcriptional regulatory networks governing effector gene expression and fungal virulence during infection remain poorly understood.This study investigates the transcriptional role of the transcription factor Ada1 in P. nodorum during infection of wheat. A deletion mutant of ada1 (SN15_delta_ada1) and the wildtype strain SN15 were used to inoculate detached seedling leaves of Triticum aestivum cv. Halberd (12 days old) using weight-normalised whole mycelium in a detached leaf assay. Infected leaves were harvested at 3 and 7 days post-inoculation (dpi), representing early and late stages of compatible interaction. Total RNA was extracted and subjected to poly(A)-selected mRNA sequencing on the Illumina NovaSeq 6000 platform (2x150 bp paired-end). Differential gene expression analysis was performed to identify Ada1-regulated genes during wheat infection, with particular focus on candidate effectors and secondary metabolite biosynthesis genes.This dataset comprises 16 RNA-seq libraries (4 biological replicates per condition): SN15 wildtype at 3 dpi, SN15 wildtype at 7 dpi, SN15_delta_ada1 at 3 dpi, and SN15_delta_ada1 at 7 dpi. Reads were aligned to the P. nodorum SN15 reference genome (GCA_016801405.1). This project involves two organisms: the host plant Triticum aestivum cv. Halberd (primary organism; NCBI Taxonomy ID: 4565) and the fungal pathogen Parastagonospora nodorum (NCBI Taxonomy ID: 45933).