Transcriptome Analysis of Avicel Utilization by Thermomyces lanuginosus. Thermomyces lanuginosus

Thermomyces lanuginosus is a thermophilic fungus whose genome encodes many carbohydrate-active enzymes involved in Avicel degradation. This study examined and compared the transcriptomes of T. lanuginosus during cultivation on Avicesl or glucose. We identified approximately 4485 genes that showed expression differences when T. lanuginosus was cultured on Avicel compared to glucose. Functional annotation of up-regulated genes showed enrichment for proteins predicted to be involved in Avicel degradation, but also many genes encoding proteins of unknown function. Our study represents the first analysis of transcriptomes, with biologic replicates, generated by RNA-seq technology. We conclude that RNA-seq based transcriptome characterization would expedite genetic network analyses and permit the dissection of complex biologic functions. Overall design: mRNA profiles of 2-day old Thermomyces lanuginosus were generated by deep sequencing,in duplicate, using Illumina GAIIx.