Analysis of transcriptome data from M. anisopliae and M. rileyi during yeast and filamentous growth (blastospores versus hyphae) in culture medium

• Grant number: 17/04870-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: September 14, 2017
• End date: March 13, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Plant Health
• Principal Investigator: Italo Delalibera Júnior
• Grantee: Natasha Sant Anna Iwanicki
• Supervisor: Jorgen Eilenberg
• Host Institution: Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
• Associated to the scholarship: 16/20610-6 - Advances in Metarhzium blastospores production and formulation and transcriptome study of metacyclic yeast growth, BP.DR

Abstract

Blastospores are yeast-like hydrophilic cells, produced in the hemolymph of arthropods during infection, or in culture medium under appropriate conditions. These structures are highly infective through the cuticle for some species of fungi such as Metarhizium anisopliae. Interestingly, Metarhizium rileyi produce blastospores in solid medium while the other species of the genus produce blastospores only in liquid medium under special culture media. It is possible to produce large amounts of blastospores of both species by liquid fermentation in a short time (<4 days), in small space and with low labor usage in relation to the solid fermentation method and with standardized quality, similarly to commercial yeast production. In this project, we intend to identify, by analyses of the transcriptome data, the genes expressed during the yeast-like and filamentous growth phases of M. anisopliae and M. rileyi in culture medium. We intend to clarify the nutritional conditions required by both: hypha and blastospore for growing in liquid and solid culture media and understand the differences between propagules of each Metarhizium species during the growth phases. The data analyses will be carried out at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, under the supervision of Assistant Professor Henrik de Fine Licht and using specific software packages running on large-scale computer servers available at the Department. (AU)