Comprehensive transcription analysis of human pathogenic fungus Penicillium marneffei in mycelial and yeast cells

Penicillium marneffei is a dimorphic fungus that responds to changes in temperature. We performed a comparative analysis of gene expression in mycelial- and yeast-phase P. marneffei cells using high-throughput DNA microarrays. A total of 1,884 differentially expressed genes with annotations in the gene ontology (GO) database were identified between P. marneffei mycelial and yeast cells. These differentially expressed genes mainly belong to 18 categories in the organism's ontology, including reproduction, immunity, metabolism, signaling, etc. Bioinformatics suggests that these differentially expressed genes may help explain the resistance to adverse environments and the virulence of P. marneffei. Nine genes from the results of the DNA microarray experiment were selected for further analysis with real-time quantitative PCR to validate the differential expression. Our data provide a global description of the transcriptional response accompanying adaptation to high temperature in yeast.