Also, four putative basic-leucine zipper transcription factors in Foc are homologous to the virulence associated proteins 4-Chloro-DL-phenylalanine including ZIF1 from F. graminearum, YAP1 from Ustilago maydis, CPCA from Aspergillus fumigatus and CPTF1 from Claviceps purpurea. Most importantly, we found that Foatf1 is the homolog of YAP1 in Foc4, which is involved in pathogenesis by regulating the oxidative stress responses of Cavendish banana. Fost12, the Fo ortholog of the yeast homeodomain transcription factor Ste12p, was also characterized to govern invasion growth and pathogenicity. The other virulence-associated genes including SPT3, BWC1, BWC2, MGG_00692, RUM1, FKH2 and MIG1 have counterparts in Foc, implying that they might participate in regulation of the fungal virulence. Inspecting the expression profiling of different transcription factor genes, 12 out of 16 virulence-associated genes were significantly induced and none was markedly suppressed in Foc4 at 48 h post Darunavir inoculation to the banana ��Brazil�� relative to that at vegetative growth stage. In contrast, only 2 of those were induced, and 6 were apparently suppressed in Foc1. These suggest that Foc4 could employ more TFs that are associated with virulence as compared to Foc1 during exposed to the banana ��Brazil��. It is well known that the Cavendish banana is resistant to Foc race 1 but is susceptible to Foc race 4. The mechanism underlying the difference in the pathogenicity to Cavendish banana between Foc race 1 and Foc race 4 is still ambiguous. To identify genes and signaling pathways involved in pathogenesis and explore molecular basis of the difference in virulence between two races, we analyzed the transcriptional responses of Foc1 and Foc4 using RNA-Seq. The data generated from Foc1 and Foc4 collected at vegetative stage was used as the control, and the time-point was chosen to focus on the crucial preinfection processes, including adhesion to roots, recognition of host and production of infectious mycelia. The two-component signal transduction systems seemed to play significant roles in recognition and adaption of the environmental change.