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Poster

Session: Session 1 Presenting Authors at Posters (Evens)

P-318 - Exploring the transcriptome of the beneficial endophyte Colletotrichum tofieldiae in maize (Zea mays L.) and Arabidopsis thaliana

Tuesday, July 15, 2025
09:55 - 11:30  
Location: Confex Hall 3
RNA on the move: Advances in Cross-Species communiation &Translational Research

Colletotrichum tofieldiae strain Ct0861 is an endophytic fungus originally isolated from Arabidopsis thaliana. Several studies have demonstrated its ability to colonize A. thaliana and other agronomically important hosts, such as maize and tomato, providing fitness benefits to the plants. In this work, we conducted an RNA-Seq experiment to analyze the fungal transcriptome at two early stages of maize seedling colonization. Differential gene expression and functional enrichment analyses using Gene Ontology (GO) terms were performed. The same approach was applied to previously published C. tofieldiae transcriptomic data from the interaction with A. thaliana, enabling the comparison of the fungal transcriptome between hosts. The comparative analysis in both plants and at different time points revealed distinct temporal dynamics. The results further suggest host-dependent colonization strategies and variations in trophic interaction establishment. Fungal gene expression trends common to both plants include the upregulation of genes encoding secreted proteins and transporters, while secondary metabolite biosynthetic genes remained downregulated in planta.