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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Mississippi State, Mississippi » Crop Science Research Laboratory » Corn Host Plant Resistance Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #190493
Title: Genomic profile of maize response to Aspergillus flavus infection

Author
item KELLEY, ROWENA - MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIV
item Williams, William
item MYLROIE, J - Mississippi State University
item Boykin, Deborah
item Hawkins, Leigh
item Windham, Gary
item BROOKS, TOM - Former ARS Employee
item BRIDGES, SUSAN - Mississippi State University
item Scheffler, Brian
item LUTHE, DAWN - Pennsylvania State University
item WILKINSON, JEFF - Mississippi State University

Submitted to: Toxin Reviews
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/12/2009
Publication Date: 8/1/2009
Citation: Kelley, R.Y., Williams, W.P., Mylroie, J.E., Boykin, D.L., Hawkins, L.K., Windham, G.L., Brooks, T.D., Bridges, S.M., Scheffler, B.E., Wilkinson, J.R. 2009. Genomic Profile of Maize Response to Aspergillus flavus Infection. Toxin Reviews. 28:129-141.

Interpretive Summary: The purpose of this experiment was to identify expressed genes that are different in Va35, a maize line that is susceptible to Aspergillus flavus, a fungus that produces aflatoxin in maize and Mp313E, a maize line that is resistant to the fungus using cDNA microarray analysis. cDNA microarray analysis is a technique used to identify the expression level of known and unknown genes. Out of the 5065 genes analyzed, 2.4% of the total genes analyzed were expressed for the susceptible Va35 line and 1.8% of the total genes analyzed were expressed for the resistant Mp313E line. Also, 0.3% of the total genes were expressed for both the susceptible and resistant maize lines. The expressed genes included those with known functions such as stress response, metabolism, protein synthesis, cellular communication and signal transduction, transcription and RNA processing and photosynthesis-associated genes. The expressed genes also included those genes with unknown functions, demonstrating the usefulness of microarray as a gene discovery tool. The microarray experiments helped us to gain an understanding of the early stages of A. flavus infection and accumulation in Va35 and Mp313E. Stress-induced genes and other DNA elements were identified. Stress genes were of interest to us in this study because stress of maize lines is a condition ideal for A. flavus growth. This study provides description of the maize ear gene expression patterns for a number of genes when exposed to A. flavus for two days.

Technical Abstract: The objective of this experiment was to identify differentially expressed genes for Aspergillus flavus resistance in the Va35 (susceptible) and Mp313E (resistant) maize (Zea mays L.) lines using cDNA microarray analysis. Out of the 5065 ESTs analyzed, 2.4% of the total ESTs analyzed were significantly up-regulated for the susceptible inbred line Va35 and 1.8% of the total ESTs analyzed were significantly up-regulated for the resistant inbred line Mp313E, and 0.3% of the total ESTs were up-regulated for both the susceptible and resistant inbred lines. The expressed ESTs included genes with known functions such as stress response, metabolism, protein synthesis, cellular communication and signal transduction, transcription and RNA processing and photosynthesis-associated genes. Up-regulated ESTs also included genes with unknown functions, demonstrating the usefulness of microarray as a gene discovery tool. The microarray experiments helped us to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the inbred lines' response to the early stages of infection and aflatoxin accumulation. Stress-induced genes and, possibly, DNA sequence elements that may coordinately regulate members of gene clusters were identified. This study provides characterization of the maize ear expression patterns for a number of genes when exposed to A. flavus for two days.