Neurospora crassa has been for decades a principal model for filamentous
fungal genetics and physiology as well as for understanding
the mechanism of circadian clocks. Eukaryotic fungal and animal
clocks comprise transcription-translation-based feedback loops that
control rhythmic transcription of a substantial fraction of these transcriptomes,
yielding the changes in protein...
Peptide phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomers (PPMO) are synthetic DNA mimics that bind complementary RNA and inhibit bacterial gene expression. (RFF)₃RXB- AcpP PPMO (R, arginine; F, phenylalanine; X, 6-aminohexanoic acid; B, β-alanine) is complementary to 11 bases of the essential gene acpP (encodes acyl carrier protein). The MIC of (RFF)₃RXB-AcpP was 2.5...
Transcription factor (TF) genes were modified endogenously to include epitope tags for identification of TF protein binding sites by Chromatin Immunoprecipitation (ChIP), followed by high throughput sequencing. We used RNA-sequencing in carbon sources of sucrose, butyrate, and oleate in far-1, far-2, and a double far-1; far-2 mutant to find transcripts...
Background: In the leuphotrochozoan parasitic platyhelminth Schistosoma mansoni, male individuals are homogametic (ZZ) whereas females are heterogametic (ZW). To elucidate the mechanisms that led to the emergence of sex chromosomes, we compared the genomic sequence and the chromatin structure of male and female individuals. As for many eukaryotes, the lower...
Pyrenophora tritici-repentis is a necrotrophic fungus causal to the disease tan spot of wheat, whose contribution to crop loss has increased significantly during the last few decades. Pathogenicity by this fungus is attributed to the production of host-selective toxins ( HST), which are recognized by their host in a genotype-specific...
The fungus Fusarium fujikuroi causes "bakanae" disease of rice due to its ability to produce gibberellins (GAs), but it is also known for producing harmful mycotoxins. However, the genetic capacity for the whole arsenal of natural compounds and their role in the fungus' interaction with rice remained unknown. Here, we...
Background: DNA cytosine methylation is an epigenetic modification that has been implicated in many biological processes. However, large-scale epigenomic studies have been applied to very few plant species, and variability in methylation among specialized tissues and its relationship to gene expression is poorly understood.
Results: We surveyed DNA methylation from...
Genome defense likely evolved to curtail the spread of transposable elements and invading viruses. A combination of effective defense mechanisms has been shown to limit colonization of the Neurospora crassa genome by transposable elements. A novel DNA transposon named Sly1-1 was discovered in the genome of the most widely used...
Plant pathogens secrete an arsenal of small secreted proteins (SSPs) acting as effectors that modulate host immunity to facilitate infection. SSP-encoding genes are often located in particular genomic environments and show waves of concerted expression at diverse stages of plant infection. To date, little is known about the regulation of...