ARS | Publication request: Dual genome microarray: Fusarium verticillioides and Aspergillus flavus gene expression in co-culture

Submitted to: International Workshop on Penicillium and Aspergillus
Publication Type: Abstract
Publication Acceptance Date: March 20, 2007
Publication Date: March 20, 2007
Citation: Brown, D.W. 2007. Dual genome microarray: Fusarium verticillioides and Aspergillus flavus gene expression in co-culture [abstract]. International Workshop on Penicillium and Aspergillus. Poster 1.

Technical Abstract: Aflatoxins produced by Aspergillus flavus, and fumonisins produced by Fusarium verticillioides, are prominent among the mycotoxins associated with economic losses to the maize grain industry worldwide. F. verticillioides is also recognized as a systemic endophyte of maize that prevents opportunistic saprotrophs such as A. flavus from spreading within the ear and rotting the seeds. Protective endophtyes are potential sources of gene products that can suppress fungal growth or silence genes critical to mycotoxin synthesis that are a priori adapted to function in planta. F. verticillioides genes that serve to augment maize host defenses are likely to exhibit patterns of expression that are correlated with exposure to fungal competitors. We have designed a NimbleGen Systems microarray based on over 25,000 A. flavus and F. verticillioides genes derived from genomic and EST data. Each probe set consists of up to twelve 60-mer oligonucleotides specific to each gene sequence. This report describes gene expression changes in both F. verticillioides and A. flavus due to co-culture on a maize based medium.