Identification of a CH Transcription Factor (PsCZF3) Associated with RxLR Effectors and Carbohydrate-Active Enzymes in Based on WGCNA.

is a destructive soybean pathogen that orchestrates various secreted proteins (effectors) to modulate plant immunity and facilitate infection. Although a number of effectors have been identified and functionally studied in , the way these molecules are regulated is marginally known. In this study, we performed a weighted gene correlation network analysis (WGCNA) based on digital RNA-seq, which enabled the identification of a transcription factor (PsCZF3) in . This transcription factor is a CH-type zinc finger protein that regulates the transcription of 35 RxLR effectors during the early infection stage. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that PsCZF3 is a highly conserved protein across oomycetes, suggesting that this regulation mechanism may broadly exist in oomycete species. In addition, by building a subnetwork of and correlated genes, we also found that PsCZF3 contributed to the transcriptional regulation of carbohydrate-active enzymes. Our findings suggest that the activation of facilitates infection by up-regulating RxLR effectors and carbohydrate-active enzymes.