Comparative transcriptome analysis of leaves from two grapevine species reveals an early gene expression profile associated with Elsinoe ampelina resistance

Abstract

Background: Anthracnose ( Elsinoe ampelina ) causes extensive damage to grapevine ( Vitis vinifera ) production worldwide, but the defense mechanisms exhibited by grape are not well understood. Results: In present study, the transcriptome differences of two grape species that exhibit either strong resistance (HR) or sensitivity (HS) to E . ampelina were determined at different time points up to 72 hours post infection (hpi) using RNA-seq profiling. Approximately 172 million high quality reads were obtained from a total of 40 samples. As a result, 3414 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified, with 2,246 in the HR grape V . q uinquangularis Shang-24 accession and 2,019 in the HS grape V . vinifera Red Globe. More up-regulated than down-regulated genes were identified both in the HR and HS samples at each time point except 48 hours post infection. Conclusions: Gene ontology (GO) function and pathway enrichment analysis suggested that the grape transcriptional response to E . ampelina infection involves genes encoding protein kinases, transcription factors, metabolite synthesis, and phytohormone signaling. Although most of the GO functional categories and enriched pathways in response to E . ampelina infection were the same in the two species, the response was apparent much earlier in the HR grape (6 hours post infection and 24 hours post infection) than in the HS grape (48 hours post infection and 72 hours post infection), which may be associated with the contrasting resistance phenotypes. This study provides new insights into the grape defense system involved in responses to E . ampelina infection, and has identified several candidate genes that may be exploited in future biotechnological approaches to increase disease resistance in grapevine.

Current status and future prospects of grapevine anthracnose caused by Elsinoe ampelina: An important disease in humid grape‐growing regions

“…Although some studies have been conducted to elucidate the molecular interactions between grape and E . ampelina (Ahn, Kim, Jo, et al, 2014 ; Gao et al, 2020 ), the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. In the past, most of the studies focused on pathogen identification and pathogenicity (Santos et al, 2018a , 2018 c ), sporulation induction (Li et al, 2018 ; Santos et al, 2018b ), characterization of the infection and colonization processes (Braga et al, 2019 , 2020 ; Li et al, 2019 ), identification of resistant cultivars and hybrids (Hopkins & Harris, 2000 ; Poolsawat et al, 2012 ), development of molecular markers linked to disease resistance genes (Kim et al, 2008 ), and expression and screening of disease resistance‐related genes (Gao et al, 2012 ; Seehalak et al, 2011 ; Vasanthaiah et al, 2010 ).…”