The Botrytis cinerea Gene Expression Browser.

Area of Science:

• Plant Pathology
• Computational Biology
• Mycology

Background:

• Botrytis cinerea is a significant agricultural pathogen causing global crop losses.
• Comprehensive gene expression analysis is crucial for understanding B. cinerea pathogenicity.
• Existing tools for B. cinerea transcriptomics are limited in scope and accessibility.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a web-based gene expression browser for Botrytis cinerea (BEB).
• To provide researchers with an accessible platform for analyzing RNA-Seq data.
• To facilitate the identification of candidate genes for functional studies and virulence mechanisms.

Main Methods:

• Development of a web-based application (BEB) using open-source technologies.
• Manual curation of RNA-Seq data for Botrytis cinerea.
• Implementation of features for gene expression visualization (heatmaps), clustering, and data download.

Main Results:

• BEB provides computationally inexpensive and user-friendly gene expression analysis.
• The platform offers publication-ready heatmaps and customizable visualization options.
• First comprehensive expression overview of secondary metabolite gene clusters, virulence factors, and reference genes in B. cinerea.

Conclusions:

• BEB is a valuable tool for Botrytis cinerea research, simplifying complex transcriptomic analyses.
• The platform supports comparative transcriptomics and candidate gene identification.
• BEB's open-source nature allows for potential adaptation to other fungal pathogens.