Epichloë stromata RNA-seq

Epichloë fungi are endophytes of cool-season grasses, including forage grass species such as Lolium perenne. While generally considered mutualistic, sexual Epichloë spp. can form stromata that envelop the inflorescences of their host in a pathogen-like interaction that aborts seed production. Here we produce an RNA-seq dataset of three Epichloë spp. and their grass hosts. The aim of the project was to identify a core set of genes involved in stroma development across all three species by evaluating their differential expression in stem and stroma tissues.