Next-generation sequencing for deep transcriptomic analysis of a tropical plant-fungus intraction (NEGENTROP).

This NEGENTROP project aims at gaining novel information and deeper insight into the interaction of banana with the pathogenic fungus Mycosphaerella fijiensis, which represents a major threat and bottleneck for Ecuadorian export and the global banana industry, respectively. Next-generation sequencing will reveal systematic snapshots of the host transcriptome at consecutive time points during the infection process under close to natural conditions. Bioinformatic analysis will identify differentially or abundantly expressed genes, splicing variants from the banana and the fungal genome. Discovery of co-expressed gene networks could also lead to the identification of candidate genese for creating disease resistant plants.

Keywords:Fungus, Disease resistance, Next-generation sequencing, Bioinformatics, Pathogen, Transcriptomics, Infection, Banana

Disciplines:Plant biology, Agricultural animal production, Agricultural plant production, Agriculture, land and farm management, Other agriculture, forestry, fisheries and allied sciences, Biomaterials engineering, Biological system engineering, Biomechanical engineering, Other (bio)medical engineering, Environmental engineering and biotechnology, Industrial biotechnology, Other biotechnology, bio-engineering and biosystem engineering