TRANSCRIPTOMICS OF Metarhizium rileyi YEAST-LIKE PHASES. TRANSCRIPTOMICS OF Metarhizium rileyi YEAST-LIKE PHASES: UNIQUE SIGNATURES ASSOCIATED TO GROWTH METABOLISM, VIRULENCE AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS FOR MORPHOGENESIS

Metarhizium rileyi is an entomopathogenic fungus with a specialist host range that distinguishes it from other Metarhizium species. This species is also unique for the initial yeast growth in solid medium. The lack of knowledge concerning the main metabolism and genetic signatures of the M. rileyi yeast-phase isis one of the bottlenecks of large-scale production of M. rileyi by the biocontrol industry. In the present work, we used transcriptomic analysis to document the main biological processes and up-regulated genes involved in the induction and maintenance of M. rileyi yeast-like phases to clarify genomics signatures of these morphotypes. Additionally, we compared transcriptome of M. rileyi and M. anisopliae yeast-like- phase to underline the main differences and similarities in biological process between the two species.