Sequential expression of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum pathogenicity factors during infection of Brassica napus as revealed by RNA-Seq analysis    
S. Seifbarghi (1), M. Borhan (2), Y. Wei (3), D. Hegedus (2) (1) Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Saskatoon SK, S7N 0X2, Canada, Canada; (2) Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Saskatoon SK, S7N 0X2, Canada, Canada; (3) Department of Biology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada, Canada

Sclerotinia sclerotiorum causes stem rot in Brassica napus, which leads to lodging and severe yield losses. The fungus releases acids, enzymes and toxins that destroy the host before it can mount a defense. While significant progress has been made in the characterization of individual S. sclerotiorum pathogenicity factors, a gap exists in our understanding of how the transcriptome is deployed throughout the course of S. sclerotiorum infection on a host plant. In this study, we used RNA-Seq analysis to comprehensively catalogue genes that were expressed during infection of B. napus, with a focus on the events occurring through the earliest (1 hour) to the middle (48 hours) stages of infection. The results revealed that a large number of the genes induced during these stages of the infection encoded hydrolytic enzymes. Other groups of up-regulated genes were involved in secondary metabolite production, detoxification of noxious compounds and effector proteins with crucial roles in infection. Observations supported that the notion that S. sclerotiorum deploys a wide variety of factors and complex strategies to establish disease and progress the infection of the host plant. The present investigation gives a global view of the gene S. sclerotiorum expression during infection of B. napus for the first time and provides a cornerstone for further characterization of important genes involved in the S. sclerotiorum- B. napus molecular interactions.

Abstract Number: C8-5, P12-406
Session Type: Concurrent