<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p><italic>Metarhizium acridum</italic> is an important microbial pesticide. Conidia (CO) and blastospores (BS) are two types of spores that occur in different patterns in the <italic>M. acridum</italic> life cycle and exhibit significant differences in cell morphology, structure, and activity. It may suggest that the fungus has a complex gene regulation mechanism. While previous studies on the differences between CO and BS have mainly focused on cell structure and application, little is known regarding the differences between CO and BS in fungi on the transcriptome levels. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNAs crucial to gene regulation and cell function. Understanding the miRNA-like RNAs (milRNA) and mRNA expression profiles related to cell growth and cellular morphological changes would elucidate the roles of miRNAs in spore morphological differences. In this study, 4,646 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified and mainly classified in the GO terms cell, cell part, biological process, and catalytic activity. The KEGG annotation suggested that they were enriched in amino acid biosynthesis, carbohydrate metabolism, ribosome, and oxidative phosphorylation and might be involved in cell activity and structure. There were 113 differentially expressed milRNAs (DEMs), targeting 493 DEGs. Target gene functional analysis revealed that the target genes were mainly enriched in RNA transport, purine metabolism, and the cell cycle. In addition, we identified essential genes from milRNA-mRNA pairs that might participate in cell budding growth and cell membrane and wall integrity, including adenosine deaminase, glycosyl hydrolase, and G-patch domain protein (dno-miR-328-3p), WD repeat-containing protein pop1 (age-miR-127), and GPI-anchored wall transfer protein (cgr-miR-598). MilRNAs might therefore play a crucial role in cell growth and cellular morphological changes as transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulators.</p>
<p><fig id="j_pjm-2022-028_fig_001a" position="float" fig-type="figure">
<graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="graphic/j_pjm-2022-028_fig_001a.jpg"></graphic>
</fig></p>
</abstract>

Metarhizium acridum is an important microbial pesticide. Conidia (CO) and blastospores (BS) are two types of spores that occur in different patterns in the M. acridum life cycle and exhibit significant differences in cell morphology, structure, and activity. It may suggest that the fungus has a complex gene regulation mechanism. While previous studies on the differences between CO and BS have mainly focused on cell structure and application, little is known regarding the differences between CO and BS in fungi on the transcriptome levels. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNAs crucial to gene regulation and cell function. Understanding the miRNA-like RNAs (milRNA) and mRNA expression profiles related to cell growth and cellular morphological changes would elucidate the roles of miRNAs in spore morphological differences. In this study, 4,646 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified and mainly classified in the GO terms cell, cell part, biological process, and catalytic activity. The KEGG annotation suggested that they were enriched in amino acid biosynthesis, carbohydrate metabolism, ribosome, and oxidative phosphorylation and might be involved in cell activity and structure. There were 113 differentially expressed milRNAs (DEMs), targeting 493 DEGs. Target gene functional analysis revealed that the target genes were mainly enriched in RNA transport, purine metabolism, and the cell cycle. In addition, we identified essential genes from milRNA-mRNA pairs that might participate in cell budding growth and cell membrane and wall integrity, including adenosine deaminase, glycosyl hydrolase, and G-patch domain protein (dno-miR-328-3p), WD repeat-containing protein pop1 (age-miR-127), and GPI-anchored wall transfer protein (cgr-miR-598). MilRNAs might therefore play a crucial role in cell growth and cellular morphological changes as transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulators.

Role of MicroRNA-Like RNAs in the Regulation of Spore Morphological Differences in the Entomopathogenic Fungus <italic>Metarhizium acridum</italic>

Polish Journal of Microbiology

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Role of MicroRNA-Like RNAs in the Regulation of Spore Morphological Differences in the Entomopathogenic Fungus 

Metarhizium acridum is an important microbial pesticide. Conidia (CO) and blastospores (BS) are two types of spores that occur in different patterns in the M....

Role of MicroRNA-Like RNAs in the Regulation of Spore Morphological Differences in the Entomopathogenic Fungus Metarhizium acridum

Article Category: Original Paper

Published Online: Sep 24, 2022

Page range: 309 - 324

Received: Mar 07, 2022

Accepted: Jul 01, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33073/pjm-2022-028

Keywords
blastospore, morphology, milRNA, target gene

© 2022 Erhao Zhang et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Role of MicroRNA-Like RNAs in the Regulation of Spore Morphological Differences in the Entomopathogenic Fungus Metarhizium acridum

Article Category: Original Paper

Published Online: Sep 24, 2022

Page range: 309 - 324

Received: Mar 07, 2022

Accepted: Jul 01, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33073/pjm-2022-028

Keywordsblastospore, morphology, milRNA, target gene

© 2022 Erhao Zhang et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
blastospore, morphology, milRNA, target gene