Transcriptome analysis of Agroathelia rolfsii gene expression during the early stages of peanut infection

Agroathelia rolfsii is a destructive soil-borne fungal pathogen that causes stem rot in cultivated peanuts and leads to enormous economic losses. Although the genome of ZY2, one highly pathogenic A. rolfsii strain, has been sequenced, a gap exists in gene expression profiles during infection of peanut. Here, RNA sequencing was performed to gain the overall gene expression profiles of A. rolfsii at 3, 6 and 12 hours post-inoculation peanut stems, and to identify the key pathogenicity genes at the early stages of infection. This study fills a critical gap in the understanding of the pathogenic mechanisms of A. rolfsii and its interactions with peanuts at the molecular level.