The Endophytic Fungus Chaetomium cupreum Regulates Expression of Genes Involved in the Tolerance to Metals and Plant Growth Promotion in Eucalyptus globulus Roots

The endophytic strain Chaetomium cupreum isolated from metal-contaminated soil was inoculated in Eucalyptus globulus roots to identify genes involved in metal stress response and plant growth promotion. We analyzed the transcriptome of E. globulus roots inoculated with C. cupreum. De novo sequencing, assembly, and analysis were performed to identify molecular mechanisms involved in metal stress tolerance and plant growth promotion. A total of 393,371,743 paired-end reads were assembled into 135,155 putative transcripts. It was found that 663 genes significantly changed their expression in the presence of treatment, of which 369 were up-regulated and 294 were down-regulated. We found differentially expressed genes (DEGs) encoding metal transporters, transcription factors, stress and defense response proteins, as well as DEGs involved in auxin biosynthesis and metabolism. Our results showed that the inoculation of C. cupreum enhanced tolerance to metals and growth promotion on E. globulus. This study provides new information to understand molecular mechanisms involved in plant–microbe interactions under metals stress.