Analysis of gene expression related to polyamine concentration and dimorphism induced in ornithine decarboxylase (odc) and spermidine synthase (spd) Ustilago maydis mutants

Polyamines are ubiquitous small organic cations, and their roles as regulators of several cellular processes are widely recognized. They are implicated in the key stages of the fungal life cycle. Ustilago maydis is a phytopathogenic fungus, the causal agent of common smut of maize and a model system to understand dimorphism and virulence. U. maydis grows in yeast form at pH 7 and it can develop its mycelial form in vitro at pH 3. Δodc mutants that are unable to synthesize polyamines, grow as yeast at pH 3 with a low putrescine concentration, and to complete its dimorphic transition high putrescine concentration is require. Δspd mutants require spermidine to grow and cannot form mycelium at pH 3. In this work, the increased expression of the mating genes, mfa1 and mfa2, on Δodc mutants, was related to high putrescine concentration. Global gene expression analysis comparisons of Δodc and Δspd U. maydis mutants indicated that 2,959 genes were differentially expressed in the presence of exogenous putrescine at pH 7 and 475 genes at pH 3. While, in Δspd mutant, the expression of 1,426 genes was affected by exogenous spermine concentration at pH 7 and 11 genes at pH 3. Additionally, we identified 28 transcriptional modules with correlated expression during seven tested conditions: mutant genotype, morphology (yeast, and mycelium), pH, and putrescine or spermidine concentration. Furthermore, significant differences in transcript levels were noted for genes in modules relating to pH and genotype genes involved in ribosome biogenesis, mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation, N-glycan synthesis, and Glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchor. In summary, our results offer a valuable tool for the identification of potential factors involved in phenomena related to polyamines and dimorphism.