Comparative transcriptomic analyses of powdery mildew resistant and susceptible cultivated cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) varieties to identify the genes involved in the resistance to Sphaerotheca fuliginea infection

Abstract

Background Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) is a widely cultivated vegetable crop, and its yield and quality are greatly affected by various pathogen infections. Sphaerotheca fuliginea is a pathogen that causes powdery mildew (PM) disease in cucumber. However, the genes involved in the resistance to PM in cucumber are largely unknown. Methods In our study, a cucumber PM resistant cultivated variety “BK2” and a susceptible cultivated variety “H136” were used to screen and identify differential expressed genes (DEGs) under the S. fuliginea infection. Results There were only 97 DEGs between BK2 and H136 under the control condition, suggesting a similarity in the basal gene expression between the resistant and susceptible cultivated varieties. A large number of hormone signaling-related DEGs (9.2% of all DEGs) between resistant and susceptible varieties were identified, suggesting an involvement of hormone signaling pathways in the resistance to PM. In our study, the defense-related DEGs belonging to Class I were only induced in susceptible cultivated variety and the defense-related DEGs belonging to Class II were only induced in resistant cultivated variety. The peroxidase, NBS, glucanase and chitinase genes that were grouped into Class I and II might contribute to production of the resistance to PM in resistant cultivated variety. Furthermore, several members of Pathogen Response-2 family, such as glucanases and chitinases, were identified as DEGs, suggesting that cucumber might enhance the resistance to PM by accelerating the degradation of the pathogen cell walls. Our data allowed us to identify and analyze more potential genes related to PM resistance.

Correction to: Comparative analysis of powdery mildew resistant and susceptible cultivated cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) varieties to reveal the metabolic responses to Sphaerotheca fuliginea infection

“…Following publication of the original article [ 1 ], the authors identified an error. Figures 6 and 7 are the same.…”

Resistance to Powdery Mildew in Qingke Involves the Accumulation of Aromatic Phenolamides Through Jasmonate-Mediated Activation of Defense-Related Genes

“…Plants have acquired diverse strategies to improve the resistance and tolerance of plants to abiotic and biotic stress, and one of the most important mechanisms is the hierarchical metabolic response that produces and accumulates diverse secondary metabolites ( Fang et al, 2019 ; Wang et al, 2019 ). Recent advances in transcriptomics analyses have revealed that the expression level of genes changes in plants in response to PM stress ( Amrine et al, 2015 ; Li Y. et al, 2019 ; Zhang et al, 2020 ), as one of the most devastating diseases in Triticeae crops, including wheat and barley. However, the underlying mechanism of plant resistance against PM remains unclear.…”