milRNAome of Fusarium virguliforme colonization of soybean roots. Fusarium virguliforme

Modulation of fungal pathogenesis has recently expanded to include micro-like RNAs (milRNAs). These small regulatory RNA modules of 18-22 nt in length were first observed in Neurospora crassa. Since initial discovery, milRNA have been observed to be involved in processes related to fungal development, including in S. sclerotiorum and F. oxysporum. To build upon the demonstrated roles for milRNAs in fungi, we next asked if plant pathogenic fungal milRNAs regulate the expression of host targets, as previously observed with small RNAs. To test this, we conducted a comprehensive microRNA sequencing analysis of our time-course of infection to 1) inventory the suite of F. virguliforme-derived milRNAS, and 2) determine with these molecules affect the expression of host target transcripts.

近年来，真菌致病机制的调控研究范畴已拓展至类微RNA（micro-like RNAs，milRNAs）。这类长度为18~22 nt的小型调控RNA模块，最初于粗糙脉孢菌（Neurospora crassa）中被发现。自首次被发现以来，研究人员已在核盘菌（S. sclerotiorum）、尖孢镰刀菌（F. oxysporum）等真菌中观察到，milRNAs参与真菌发育相关的生理过程。为进一步明确milRNAs在真菌中的已证实功能，本研究接下来探究植物病原真菌的milRNAs是否可调控宿主靶基因的表达，这与此前关于小型RNA的相关研究发现一致。为验证这一假说，我们对感染时间进程样本开展了全面的小RNA测序分析，以期实现两大目标：1） 系统梳理藤仓镰孢（F. virguliforme）来源的milRNAs全套组分；2） 明确此类分子是否会调控宿主靶转录本的表达水平。