Genome wide dissection of effector gene regulation

Many molecular determinants are known to contribute to fungal virulence adaptation. My project aims to illustrate the adaptive evolution driven by the regulation of expression of effectors in the wheat pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici to surpass the plant defence mechanism. I will employ RNA-seq for generating a genome wide map of polymorphism linked to variation of effector gene expression. Investigating differentially expressed genes in pure culture and during leaf infection, I expect to find eQTLs linked to transcriptional control during infection.