GENOMICS AND PROTEOMICS Gene transcription profiling of Fusarium graminearum treated with an azole fungicide tebuconazole Xin Liu & Jinhua Jiang & Jiaofang Shao & Yanni Yin & Zhonghua Ma Received: 3 August 2009 / Revised: 16 September 2009 / Accepted: 20 September 2009 / Published online: 10 October 2009 # Springer-Verlag 2009 Abstract Using a deep serial analysis of gene expression (DeepSAGE) sequencing approach, we profiled the tran- scriptional response of Fusarium graminearum to tebuco- nazole, a most widely used azole fungicide. By comparing the expression of genes in F. graminearum treated and untreated with tebuconazole, we identified 324 and 155 genes showing more than a 5-fold increase and decrease, respectively, in expression upon tebuconazole treatment. These genes are involved in a variety of cell functions including egrosterol biosynthesis, transcription, and cellular metabolism. The validity of DeepSAGE results were confirmed by real-time PCR analysis of expression of 20 genes with different expression levels in the DeepSAGE analysis. The results from this study provide useful information in understanding the mechanisms for the responses of F. graminearum to azole fungicides. Keywords DeepSAGE . Fusarium graminearum . Real-time PCR . Tebuconazole . Transcriptome Introduction The filamentous fungus, Fusarium graminearum (tele- omorph: Gibberella zeae), is one of the most important causal agents of wheat head blight (WHB), which can cause huge yield losses worldwide (Xu and Nicholson 2009). Additionally, the contamination of infected grains with mycotoxins produced by the fungus also poses a serious threat to human and animal health. Currently, a primary method for management of WHB is through the application of fungicides during wheat anthesis because most wheat cultivars are susceptible to F. graminearum (Snijders 2004). The sterol demethylation inhibitor (DMI) fungicides tebuconazole, prochloraz, or the mixture of prothioconazole and tebuconazole have been shown to be effective against WHB (Blandino et al. 2006; Lechoczki- Krsjak et al. 2008). These compounds block the ergos- terol biosynthesis pathway by inhibiting the enzyme 14-α-demethylase encoded by the cyp51 gene. Because extensive application of DMI for the management of many plant diseases, DMI resistance has developed in several important phytopathogenic fungi, including Erysiphe graminis (Wyand and Brown 2005), Monilinia fructicola (Luo and Schnabel 2007), and Mycosphaerella graminicola (Leroux et al. 2007), although resistance of the WHB pathogens to DMI has not caused a problem in the field yet. The common mechanisms of fungal resistance to DMI include amino acid changes in the target enzyme, over- expression of the cyp51gene, and overexpression of ATP- binding cassette (ABC) transporters encoding efflux pumps (Ma and Michailides 2005; de Waard et al. 2006; Leroux et al. 2007; Luo and Schnabel 2007). In a previous study, mutations in the cyp51 genes were found not to be related with DMI resistance in F. graminearum (Yin et al. 2009). Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00253-009-2273-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. X. Liu : J. Jiang : Y. Yin : Z. Ma (*) Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Crop Pathogens and Insects, Institute of Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, 268 Kaixuan Road, Hangzhou 310029, China e-mail: zhma@zju.edu.cn J. Shao Zhejiang-California International Nanosystems Institute, 268 Kaixuan Road, Hangzhou 310029, China Appl Microbiol Biotechnol (2010) 85:1105–1114 DOI 10.1007/s00253-009-2273-4