Analysis of the cross-talk between maize and Fusarium verticillioides revealed by RNA-Sequencing.

Fusarium verticillioides is a plant pathogen able to produce fumonisin in maize kernels. To clarify the molecular processes undergoing in maize upon infection, the expression profiles of resistant and susceptible genotypes after F. verticillioides inoculation have been characterized using RNA-Seq technology. More than 100 million sequence reads were generated for condition (inoculated/uninoculated). The sequence reads were analyzed to measure gene expression levels, to detect alternative splicing events and single nucleotide polymorphisms. We observed 2,296 and 2,578 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) 72 hours after inoculation for the resistant and susceptible genotypes, respectively, of which 1018 were in common and showed 5,342 SNPs variants. About 320,000 and 175,000 reads mapped on Fusarium genome in the susceptible and resistant genotypes, respectively, and 129 fungal genes were differentially regulated in both lines. The identification of plant DEGs that interact with fungus will produce useful tools for the identification of candidate genes, the development of molecular markers and their use for selection of resistant maize genotypes by means of marker assisted selection.