Abstract
Botrytis cinerea is a plant pathogenic ascomycete producing sexual fruiting bodies named apothecia. We performed RNA-seq analysis of sclerotia, three stages of apothecium development and ascospores. Transcriptomes were compared between successive developmental stages in order to describe transcriptional changes occurring during developmental transitions. Strikingly, more than 5000 genes were differentially expressed between mature apothecia and ascospores. Ascospores expressed several genes encoding virulence factors, even prior to interaction with host plants. Secondly, cluster analysis identified six sets of genes with common transcriptional profiles over the developmental stages. Interestingly, ~80% of the genes that were specifically expressed in mature apothecia were of unknown function and exclusively had homologs within the order Helotiales, but no homologs in fungi producing other types of ascocarps. This suggest that the apothecium is a structure that evolved independently from other fruiting bodies (cleistothecia, perithecia or pseudothecia).
| Original language | English |
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| Title of host publication | Book of Abstracts 28th Fungal Genetics Conference |
| Pages | 261 |
| Publication status | Published - 2015 |
| Event | 28th Fungal Genetics Conference, Pacific Grove, CA, USA - Duration: 17 Mar 2015 → 22 Mar 2015 |
Conference
| Conference | 28th Fungal Genetics Conference, Pacific Grove, CA, USA |
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| Period | 17/03/15 → 22/03/15 |