RNA-seq of Fusarium graminearum under predation by the springtail Folsomia candida against untreated controls

Soil fungi are key players in biomass recycling. Predation influences fungal communities and modulates ecosystem services provided by fungi. Fungal chemical defense against predation comprises toxic proteins and secondary metabolites. The intent of this experiment was to generate transcriptomic information when a fungus, in this case Fusarium graminearum, was in the presence of a predator (Folsomia candida). We assumed that defense metabolites are synthesized on demand and transcriptome analysis can be used to pinpoint genes of defense pathways. To carry out the experiment, cultures of F. graminearum were subjected to grazing by springtail F. candida. After 48 hours at 15°C in dark, springtails were removed, and RNA was extracted from mycelium. Controls were incubated under the same conditions without animals. Each group consisted of four replicates. Strand-specific cDNA libraries were prepared using Illumina's TruSeq stranded mRNA kit (75 bp paired-end) and sequenced on Illumina NextSeq 500V2.