Transcriptome Analysis of Infecting Indicates That Two Distinct Geographical Fungi Groups Have Different Destructive Proliferation Capacities Related to Purine Metabolism.

Anthracnose, caused by spp., is a significant disease affecting oil tea ( Abel.). Extensive molecular studies have demonstrated that is the dominant pathogen of oil tea anthracnose in China. This study aims to investigate differences in molecular processes and regulatory genes at a late stage of infection of , to aid in understanding differences in pathogenic mechanisms of of different geographic populations. We compared the pathogenicity of from different populations (Wuzhishan, Hainan province, and Shaoyang, Hunan province) and gene expression of representative strains of the two populations before and after inoculation in oil tea using RNA sequencing. The results revealed that from Wuzhishan has a more vital ability to impact oil tea leaf tissue. Following infection with oil tea leaves, up-regulated genes in the strains from two geographic populations were associated with galactosidase activity, glutamine family amino acid metabolism, arginine, and proline metabolism. Additionally, up-regulated gene lists associated with infection by Wuzhishan strains were significantly enriched in purine metabolism pathways, while Shaoyang strains were not. These results indicate that more transcriptional and translational activity and the greater regulation of the purine metabolism pathway in the of the Wuzhishan strain might contribute to its stronger pathogenicity.