P-581 - Differential transcriptomic analysis of Colletotrichum sublineola reveals infection strategies in Sorghum

Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench is a promising cereal crop for biofuel production, including bioethanol and biobutanol. However, global sorghum production is threatened by Colletotrichum sublineola, a devastating fungal pathogen capable of causing significant yield loss. This pathogen is prevalent in all sorghum-cultivating regions of the world, including the United States, which is the leading sorghum producer globally. Our understanding of the infection process of this pathogen is limited by its hemibiotrophic nature, rendering the mechanisms that facilitate infection not fully elucidated. Transcriptomic analysis through RNA sequencing is a powerful tool to examine gene expression at different stages of the infection process for a given pathosystem. This study aimed to characterize gene expression levels of C. sublineola on sorghum differential lines at 0hr (pre-inoculation), 24hr, and 48hr, post-inoculation, while identifying upregulated genes that may encode virulence factors within this pathogen. Our analysis revealed 1,006 genes exhibiting significant changes in expression following inoculation, including 191 upregulated genes within C. sublineola. These upregulated genes are likely to play a role in the pathogen’s virulence.