Transcriptome analysis of Actinidia chinensis in response to Botryosphaeria dothidea infection

Abstract

Ripe rot caused by Botryosphaeria dothidea causes extensive production losses in kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis Planch.). Our previous study showed that kiwifruit variety "Jinyan" is resistant to B. dothidea while "Hongyang" is susceptible. For a comparative analysis of the response of these varieties to B. dothidea infection, we performed a transcriptome analysis by RNA sequencing. A total of 305.24 Gb of clean bases were generated from 36 libraries of which 175.76 Gb was from the resistant variety and 129.48 Gb from the susceptible variety. From the libraries generated, we identified 44,656 genes including 39,041 reference genes, 5,615 novel transcripts, and 13,898 differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Among these, 2,373 potentially defense-related genes linked to calcium signaling, mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), cell wall modification, phytoalexin synthesis, transcription factors, pattern-recognition receptors, and pathogenesis-related proteins may regulate kiwifruit resistance to B. dothidea. DEGs involved in calcium signaling, MAPK, and cell wall modification in the resistant variety were induced at an earlier stage and at higher levels compared with the susceptible variety. Thirty DEGs involved in plant defense response were strongly induced in the resistant variety at all three time points. This study allowed the first comprehensive understanding of kiwifruit transcriptome in response to B. dothidea and may help identify key genes required for ripe rot resistance in kiwifruit.

Pathogenic fungi shape the fungal community, network complexity, and pathogenesis in kiwifruit

“…This result was consistent with previously reported that maturity-stage fruits were associated with susceptibility to suffering abiotic and biotic influence (Buron-Moles et al, 2015). The importance of biodiversity to ecosystem functioning is well recognized (Wang et al, 2020a(Wang et al, , 2020b. Changes that occur in the microbial community of host tissues can potentially have a significant effect on the health of the host plant (Wisniewski & Droby, 2019).…”

“…The disease index for the four pathogens was calculated on kiwifruit and results indicated that the disease index was >40% at 10 dpi (Figure 2). Notably, the appearance and development of the decay lesions differed among the four different processes, which is consistent with previous studies with other postharvest pathogens (Toju et al, 2018;Wang et al, 2020aWang et al, , 2020bZhu et al, 2022). Meanwhile, our result also revealed that the four identified pathogens also infected mature kiwifruit and the infection time and disease incidence were much faster and higher than that during in infection process of development of kiwifruit (Figure 2B and Figure 6F).…”

Analysis of long non-coding RNAs and mRNAs in harvested kiwifruit in response to the yeast antagonist, Wickerhamomyces anomalus

“…Bioinformatic analysis indicated that the target genes of up-regulated lncRNAs were enriched in the activation of innate immune responses, defense responses to bacteria, immune system processes, plant hormone signal transduction, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, and other pathways [10] . Previous studies have also analyzed the transcriptome of infected kiwifruit [17] , [18] . Wang et al conducted a transcriptome analysis of kiwifruit infected with Pseudomonas syringae , and identified a number of lncRNAs related to the regulation of various plant defense processes, including innate immune response, systemic-acquired resistance, and salicylic acid-mediated defense [19] .…”

The involvement of the phenylpropanoid and jasmonate pathways in methyl jasmonate-induced soft rot resistance in kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis)

“…'Hongyang' is one of the main kiwifruit varieties cultivated in Jiangxi province, and the whole genome sequencing has been completed (Yue et al, 2020). 'Hongyang' kiwifruit was selected as the tested fruit based on its high sensitivity to B. dothidea (Wang et al, 2020b). At maturity, kiwifruit were harvested from an orchard (28.…”