Expressed sequence tags from the phytopathogenic fungus Botrytis cinerea

A large set of genes was identified in the phytopathogenic fungus Botrytis cinerea by using an expressed sequence tag approach. The fungus was grown in axenic culture and a cDNA library was produced. From this library, 6559 ESTs were obtained. The combined sequences represent 3026 unisequences that corresponds to approximately one-quarter of the estimated total number of genes in B. cinerea. Approximately 18% of the ESTs showed significant similarities with genes coding for proteins with known functions,~56% were similar to genes coding for proteins with unknown functions and ~26% were orphans. A substantial B. cinerea gene inventory including putative virulence factors was therefore obtained and is now available at the Genoplante-Info Database interface (http://urgi.infobiogen.fr///Projects/GPiDB/Interface/).