Transcription factor Msn2 dependent gene expression in two entomopathogen fungi, Beauveria bassiana and Metarhizium robertsii under thermal and oxidaitve stresses

Transcription factor Msn2 played crucial roles in mediating fungal stress tolerance, a determinant to the biocontrol potential of fungal entomopathogens. We characterized for the first time the functions of Beauveria bassiana Msn2 (BbMsn2) and Metarhizium robertsii (MrMsn2) by analyzing multi-phenotypic changes in Msn2-deletion and investigating transcription patterns of WT versus ?Msn2 of B. bassiana and M. robertsii under thermal and oxidative stresses by using high throughput sequencing (RNA-Seq). Our transcriptional profiles revealed that numerous differentially expressed genes (DEGs), of which involved in transportation, detoxification, signal transduction, and energy metabolism, were significantly repressed in expression level. Overall design: Total RNA obtained from Bbmsn2 and MrMsn2 disruption mutant subjected to 2 mM menadione and 40 °C for 3-h response compared to the wild type strain under the same stress treatment.