FIG 1.

Expression patterns of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum transcription factors and a candidate S. sclerotiorum virulence factor, SsC₆TF1. (A) A clustered heat map showing in planta and in vitro expression of 389 putative transcription factors in the pea lines “Lifter” and PI240515 and in the culture medium (CM) at 12, 24, and 48 hpi. An asterisk (*) indicates a candidate virulence factor SsC₆TF1 (Sscle04g036970) in group V, which has a tendency toward higher expression in planta than in vitro. (B) Expression levels of SsC₆TF1 in planta in RNA-Seq were highly induced at 24 and 48 hpi but not in vitro (*, FDR-adjusted P < 0.05). (C) Expression patterns of SsC₆TF1 in planta and in vitro were confirmed by qPCR analysis. RE, relative expression. (D) Neighbor-joining tree for amino acid sequences of SsC₆TF1 (Sscle04g036970; APA09027) and its orthologs in other fungi. The scale bar represents the number of amino acid substitutions per site. Bootstrap values are based on 1,000 iterations.