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Differential gene expression in filamentous cells of Ustilago maydis

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Abstract

When fungi interact with plants as pathogens or as symbionts, there are often changes in fungal cell morphology and nuclear state. This study establishes the use of cDNA microarrays to detect gene expression changes in Ustilago maydis cells that differ in structure and nuclear content. Categorizing differentially expressed genes on the basis of function indicated that U. maydis cell types vary most in the expression of genes related to metabolism. We also observed that more genes are up-regulated in the filamentous dikaryon than in the filamentous diploid, relative to non-pathogenic budding cells. Our comparison of pathogenic development indicated that the dikaryon is more virulent than the diploid. Other identified expression patterns suggest a cell-specific difference in nutrient acquisition, cell metabolism and signal transduction. The relevance of gene expression change to cell type biology is discussed.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. F. Banuett for providing us with U. maydis strains. We acknowledge and thank Dr. Timothy J. Westwood, Director of the Canadian Drosophila Microarray Centre, and Dr. Jianming Pei and Scott J. Neal, Department of Biology, University of Toronto at Mississauga, for their discussion and assistance on printing the cDNA microarray slides. We thank Ali Zahiri, Eric Ho and Matthew Cahill for their comments on the manuscript. This work was supported by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council grant to B.J.S.

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  1. Department of Botany, University of Toronto at Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Rd. N., Mississauga, Ontario, L5L 1C6, Canada

    Mohan R. Babu, Kristen Choffe & Barry J. Saville

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  1. Mohan R. Babu
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  2. Kristen Choffe
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  3. Barry J. Saville
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Correspondence to Barry J. Saville.

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Communicated by U. Kück

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Babu, M.R., Choffe, K. & Saville, B.J. Differential gene expression in filamentous cells of Ustilago maydis. Curr Genet 47, 316–333 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00294-005-0574-4

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