Transcrptional profiles of Cryptococcous neoformans Gsb1 at non-stress and oxidative stress conditions. Cryptococcus neoformans H99

Purpose: To identify the downstream genes whose expression levels are affected by the deletion of gsb1 under non-stress and oxidative stress conditions, we compared the RNA-seq based transcriptional profiles of wild-type and gsb1 cells. Methods: mRNA profiles of cells grown at non-stress and oxidative stress conditions were generated by RNA-seq using Illumina GAIIx. The sequence reads that passed quality filters were mapped to reference genome and the normalized RPKM values were calculated by CLC Genomics Workbench. Results: RNA-Seq analysis during normal growth revealed increased expression of a number of genes involved in mitochondrial respiration and cell cycle, but decreased expression of several genes involved in the mating-responsive MAPK signaling pathway. Moreover, RNA-Seq analysis under oxidative stress revealed that several genes involved in ROS defense, cell wall remodeling, and protein glycosylation were highly induced in the wild-type strain but not in gsb1. Conclusions: This study proposed that Gsb1 is a key transcriptional regulator modulating growth, anti-stress responses, differentiation, and virulence in C. neoformans. Overall design: mRNA profiles of cells grown at non-stress and oxidative stress conditions were generated by RNA-seq using Illumina.