Fig. 6.

Modification of Leptosphaeria maculans “brassicae” gene expression in planta following co-inoculation with Leptosphaeria biglobosa “brassicae.” RNA samples were collected at 2, 4, 7, 9, 11, and 15 days post-inoculation (dpi) following inoculation of Brassica napus cv. Darmor-bzh cotyledons by Leptosphaeria maculans “brassicae” (Lmb) or/and Leptosphaeria biglobosa “brassicae” (Lbb). Single-species inoculations (SSI) were done by inoculating pycnidiospore suspensions of Lmb or Lbb at 10⁷ pycnidiospores.mL⁻¹ and mixed species inoculations (MSI) were done by mixing an equal volume of Lmb and Lbb spore suspensions at 10⁷ pycnidiospores.mL⁻¹. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were obtained by comparing the Lmb gene expression between SSI and MSI at each date (2, 5, 7, 9, 12, and 15 days post-inoculation; dpi). a The heatmap represents the normalized expression (centered Log₂(FPKM + 1)) of the 2310 DEG set. Genes were grouped into two main categories: the down-expressed gene set in MSI compared to SSI (green bar on the left of the heatmap) or the up-expressed genes in MSI compared to SSI (red bar on the left of the heatmap). b Genes belonging to the expression waves highlighted in [28] were extracted from the 2310 DEGs detected in this study. The first three successive expression waves (Cluster 1, 2, and 3, [28]) were found significantly impacted in MSI condition in this study (Additional file 22: Table S5). Changes in expression profiles under MSI condition of genes present in the Cluster1 (“Penetration and establishment”: 2–5 dpi; Cluster2 (“Biotrophy”: 5–9 dpi)) and Cluster3 (“Necrotrophy on cotyledons”: 12–15 dpi)) are shown