De novo transcriptome sequencing of Isaria cateniannulata and comparative analysis of gene expression in response to heat and cold stresses

Isaria cateniannulata is a very important and virulent entomopathogenic fungus that infects many insect pest species. Although I. cateniannulata is commonly exposed to extreme environmental temperature conditions, little is known about its molecular response mechanism to temperature stress. Here, we sequenced and de novo assembled the transcriptome of I. cateniannulata in response to high and low temperature stresses using Illumina RNA-Seq technology. Our assembly encompassed 17,514 unigenes (mean length = 1,197 bp), in which 11,445 unigenes (65.34%) showed significant similarities to known sequences in NCBI non-redundant protein sequences (Nr) database. Using digital gene expression analysis, 4,483 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified after heat treatment, including 2,905 up-regulated genes and 1,578 down-regulated genes. Under cold stress, 1,927 DEGs were identified, including 1,245 up-regulated genes and 682 down-regulated genes. The expression patterns of 18 randomly selected candidate DEGs resulting from quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) were consistent with their transcriptome analysis results. Although DEGs were involved in many pathways, we focused on the genes that were involved in endocytosis: In heat stress, the pathway of clathrin-dependent endocytosis (CDE) was active; however at low temperature stresses, the pathway of clathrin-independent endocytosis (CIE) was active. Besides, four categories of DEGs acting as temperature sensors were observed, including cell-wall-major-components-metabolism-related (CWMCMR) genes, heat shock protein (Hsp) genes, intracellular-compatible-solutes-metabolism-related (ICSMR) genes and glutathione S-transferase (GST). These results enhance our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of I. cateniannulata in response to temperature stresses and provide a valuable resource for the future investigations.