sRNA-seq of Aspergillus fumigatus expressing a pksP or pabA inverted-repeat transgene

The RNA interference (RNAi) pathway has evolved numerous functionalities in eukaryotes, with many on display in Kingdom Fungi. RNAi can regulate gene expression, facilitate drug resistance, or even be altogether lost to improve virulence potential in some fungal pathogens. In the WHO fungal priority pathogen, Aspergillus fumigatus, the RNAi system is known to be intact and functional. To extend our limited understanding of A. fumigatus RNAi, we performed a sRNA-seq to assess sRNAs produced in several RNAi knockouts and a wild type strain expressing a 1200 nt inverted-repeat transgene with complementarity to the pksP gene. We also performed the experiment with a wild-type expressing an IRT with complementarity to pabA. The transgenes harbor a 500-bp inverted repeat. We included an uninduced and induced wild type strain with no inverted-repeat transgene as a control. All conditions were performed in mycelium grown for 24 hours in liquid culture. Overall design: Small RNA profiling analysis of Aspergillus fumigatus RNAi knockouts (??dclA, ??dclB) and wild type expressing a 1200 nt inverted-repeat transgene with complementarity to the pksP or pabA (wt only) gene, using 24-h-mycelium.