De novo transcriptome sequencing of Isaria cateniannulata and comparative analysis of gene expression in response to heat and cold stresses

PLoS One. 2017 Oct 12;12(10):e0186040. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0186040. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

Isaria cateniannulata is a very important and virulent entomopathogenic fungus that infects many insect pest species. Although I. cateniannulata is commonly exposed to extreme environmental temperature conditions, little is known about its molecular response mechanism to temperature stress. Here, we sequenced and de novo assembled the transcriptome of I. cateniannulata in response to high and low temperature stresses using Illumina RNA-Seq technology. Our assembly encompassed 17,514 unigenes (mean length = 1,197 bp), in which 11,445 unigenes (65.34%) showed significant similarities to known sequences in NCBI non-redundant protein sequences (Nr) database. Using digital gene expression analysis, 4,483 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified after heat treatment, including 2,905 up-regulated genes and 1,578 down-regulated genes. Under cold stress, 1,927 DEGs were identified, including 1,245 up-regulated genes and 682 down-regulated genes. The expression patterns of 18 randomly selected candidate DEGs resulting from quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) were consistent with their transcriptome analysis results. Although DEGs were involved in many pathways, we focused on the genes that were involved in endocytosis: In heat stress, the pathway of clathrin-dependent endocytosis (CDE) was active; however at low temperature stresses, the pathway of clathrin-independent endocytosis (CIE) was active. Besides, four categories of DEGs acting as temperature sensors were observed, including cell-wall-major-components-metabolism-related (CWMCMR) genes, heat shock protein (Hsp) genes, intracellular-compatible-solutes-metabolism-related (ICSMR) genes and glutathione S-transferase (GST). These results enhance our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of I. cateniannulata in response to temperature stresses and provide a valuable resource for the future investigations.

MeSH terms

  • Cold-Shock Response / genetics*
  • Gene Expression Profiling
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal*
  • Gene Ontology
  • Heat-Shock Response / genetics*
  • Hypocreales / genetics
  • Hypocreales / physiology*
  • Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction

Grants and funding

This work was financially supported by the programs of Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province, China (grant no. 2015J01099; http://www.fjkx.org/), Modern Agro-Industry Technology Research System (grant no. CARS-23; http://www.moa.gov.cn/), Key Project of Tea Research Institute of FAAS (grant no. 2014-cys-02; http://www.faas.cn/dept/cys/index.html) and Collaborative Innovation Center of Chinese Oolong Tea Industry-Collaborative Innovation Center (2011) of Fujian Province (http://www.fjedu.gov.cn/). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.