Long Non-Coding RNAs Responsive to Witches’ Broom Disease in Paulownia tomentosa

Abstract

Paulownia witches' broom (PaWB) disease caused by phytoplasmas is a fatal disease that leads to considerable economic losses. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been demonstrated to play critical regulatory roles in posttranscriptional and transcriptional regulation. However, lncRNAs and their functional roles remain poorly characterized in Paulownia. To identify lncRNAs and investigate their roles in the response to PaWB phytoplasmas, RNA sequencing was performed for healthy Paulownia tomentosa, PaWB-infected P. tomentosa, and for healthy and PaWB-infected P. tomentosa treated with 100 mg L −1 rifampicin. A total of 28,614 unique mRNAs and 3693 potential lncRNAs were identified. Comparisons between lncRNAs and coding genes indicated that lncRNAs tended to have shorter transcripts and fewer exon numbers, and displayed significant expression specificity. Based on our comparison scheme, 1063 PaWB-related mRNAs and 110 PaWB-related lncRNAs were identified; among them, 12 PaWB-related candidate target genes that were regulated by nine PaWB-related lncRNAs were characterized. This study provides the first catalog of lncRNAs expressed in Paulownia and gives a revealing insight into the molecular mechanism responsible for PaWB.

Tomato lncRNA23468 functions as a competing endogenous RNA to modulate NBS-LRR genes by decoying miR482b in the tomato-Phytophthora infestans interaction

“…In plant-pathogen interactions, using an RNA sequencing approach, 125 putative stress-responsive lncRNAs that are induced by powdery mildew infection have been identified in wheat 24 . A number of lncRNAs have been identified in Paulownia witches’ broom-infected Paulownia tomentosa by high-throughput sequencing 25 . In addition, Arabidopsis thaliana lncRNAs have been found to act in Arabidopsis resistance to Fusarium oxysporum 22 .…”

ceRNA Cross-Talk in Paulownia Witches’ Broom Disease

“…Recently, lncRNAs have been investigated in many plants under biotic stresses [19]. In this study, we identified 229 DELs that may be PaWB-related lncRNAs.…”

LncRNA33732‐respiratory burst oxidase module associated with WRKY1 in tomato‐ Phytophthora infestans interactions

“…Plant lncRNAs play important roles in seed development (Kiegle et al ., ), photomorphogenesis (Wang et al ., ), fruit development (Zhu et al ., ; Wang et al ., , ; Li et al ., ), microRNA (miRNA) silencing (Wang et al ., ), miRNA precursors (Chen et al ., ; Joshi et al ., ) and biotic and abiotic stress responses (Qin et al ., ; Wang et al ., ). In studies examining plant−pathogen interactions, a set of Paulownia tomentosa lncRNAs has been identified in Paulownia witches’ boom‐infected P. tomentosa by high‐throughput sequencing (Wang et al ., ). In wheat, powdery mildew‐induced lncRNAs were identified and characterized (Xin et al ., ), and four wheat lncRNAs play important roles in wheat− Puccinia striiformis interaction (Zhang et al ., ).…”