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ARS Home » Midwest Area » St. Paul, Minnesota » Cereal Disease Lab » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #325250
Title: Compartmentalized gene regulatory network of the pathogenic fungus Fusarium graminearum

Author
item GUO, LI - University Of Massachusetts
item ZHAO, GUOYI - University Of Massachusetts
item XU, JIN-RONG - Purdue University
item Kistler, Harold
item GUO, LIXIN - University Of Massachusetts
item MA, LI-JUN - University Of Massachusetts

Submitted to: New Phytologist
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/25/2016
Publication Date: 1/31/2016
Citation: Guo, L., Zhao, G., Xu, J., Kistler, H.C., Guo, L., Ma, L. 2016. Compartmentalized gene regulatory network of the pathogenic fungus Fusarium graminearum. New Phytologist. 211(2):527-541. doi: 10.1111/nph.13912.

Interpretive Summary: Fusarium graminearum (Fg), a pathogen of cultivated cereals, is responsible for billions of dollars in agricultural losses. There is a growing interest in understanding the mechanisms by which genes in this harmful pathogen are turned on and off, especially if this regulation controls the ability of the fungi to cause disease or to allow toxins to contaminate food. Understanding which genes are co-expressed under a variety of environmental conditions provides a opportunity to understand the regulation of these genes. We developed a computational process to systematically discover evolutionarily conserved networks of the genes that control when and where they are expressed. Factors which regulate gene expression of important traits potentially could be exploited for disease control measures. These disease management strategies may involve disruption of vital fungal developmental pathways. The primary users of the research in this publication will be other scientists engaged in research to improve disease management on small grain crops.

Technical Abstract: Head blight caused by Fusarium graminearum (Fg) is a major limiting factor of wheat production with both yield loss and mycotoxin contamination. Here we report a model for global Fg gene regulatory networks (GRNs) inferred from a large collection of transcriptomic data using a machine-learning approach. The functional connectivity of regulators and target genes is high and agrees with current biological knowledge of Fg. The network contains eight distinct but interwoven modules with unique functions. Each module is differentially induced under different biological processes such as pathogenesis, sexual and asexual development. Above all we discover a regulatory preference of inferred regulators in conserved and non-conserved Fg genomic regions where regulators seem to predominantly regulate target genes from the same genomic regions. Such network compartmentalization indicates that Fg may have diverged regulatory circuits for two different genomic regions such that regulators and target genes wire at the same region to control specialized biological functions. This first ever reconstructed filamentous ascomycete GRN, although preliminary, primes understanding of pathogenicity at systems biology level and provides enticing prospect for novel disease control strategies via targeting master regulators of pathogens.