No evidence that homologs of key circadian clock genes direct circadian programs of development or mRNA abundance in Verticillium dahliae

Cascant-Lopez, E., Crosthwaite, S. K., Johnson, L. J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0006-1511 and Harrison, R. J. (2020) No evidence that homologs of key circadian clock genes direct circadian programs of development or mRNA abundance in Verticillium dahliae. Frontiers in Microbiology, 11 (1977). ISSN 1664-302X doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.01977

Abstract/Summary

Many organisms harbor circadian clocks that promote their adaptation to the rhythmic environment. While a broad knowledge of the molecular mechanism of circadian clocks has been gained through the fungal model Neurospora crassa, little is known about circadian clocks in other fungi. N. crassa belongs to the same class as many important plant pathogens including the vascular wilt fungus Verticillium dahliae. We identified homologs of N. crassa clock proteins in V. dahliae, which showed high conservation in key protein domains. However, no evidence for an endogenous, free- running and entrainable rhythm was observed in the daily formation of conidia and microsclerotia. In N. crassa the frequency (frq) gene encodes a central clock protein expressed rhythmically and in response to light. In contrast, expression of Vdfrq is not light-regulated. Temporal gene expression profiling over 48 h in constant darkness and temperature revealed no circadian expression of key clock genes. Furthermore, RNA-seq over a 24 h time-course revealed no robust oscillations of clock-associated transcripts in constant darkness. Comparison of gene expression between wild-type V. dahliae and a

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/92562
Item Type	Article
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Life Sciences > School of Biological Sciences > Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Publisher	Frontiers
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