Genome-wide Transcriptomic Analysis of the Response of Botrytis cinerea to Wuyiencin

Abstract

Grey mould is caused by the ascomycetes Botrytis cinerea in a range of crop hosts. As a biological control agent, the nucleoside antibiotic wuyiencin has been industrially produced and widely used as an effective fungicide. To elucidate the effects of wuyiencin on the transcriptional regulation in B. cinerea, we, for the first time, report a genome-wide transcriptomic analysis of B. cinerea treated with wuyiencin. We could identify 2067 differentially expressed genes (DEGs); of them, 886 and 1181 genes were significantly upregulated and downregulated, respectively. Functional categorization indicated that genes involved in amino acid metabolism and those encoding putative secreted proteins were remarkably influenced in response to wuyiencin treatment. Moreover, the expression of genes involved in protein synthesis and energy metabolism (oxidative phosphorylation) and of those encoding ATP-binding cassette transporters was markedly upregulated, whereas that of genes participating in DNA replication, cell cycle, and stress response was downregulated. Furthermore, wuyiencin resulted in mycelial malformation and negatively influenced cell growth rate and conidial yield in B. cinerea. Our results suggest that this nucleoside antibiotic regulates all aspects of cell growth and differentiation in B. cinerea. To summarize, we identified candidate pathways and target genes that may offer insights into the protective and antagonistic mechanisms underlying the action of biological control agents.