Transcriptome Analysis of the -Mediated Hypersensitive Response to in Tomato.

Gray leaf spot disease caused by is a major disease in cultivated tomato plants and threatens tomato-growing areas worldwide. is a single dominant gene that confers resistance to tomato gray leaf spot disease agent. However, the underlying molecular mechanism remains unclear. Here, resistant (cv. Motelle, containing the gene) and susceptible (cv. Moneymaker) plants were inoculated with virulent isolate at a time point at which both cultivars showed a strong response to infection. Transcriptome analyses were performed in both cultivars using RNA-seq. The number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) was higher in Motelle than Moneymaker. Functional classification revealed that most DEGs were involved in plant-pathogen interactions, plant hormone signal transduction, regulation of autophagy, glycerophospholipid metabolism, and α-linolenic acid metabolism. Moreover, the genes that were significantly up-regulated in tomatoes were involved in plant-pathogen interaction pathways. A total of 26 genes were selected for confirmation of differentially expressed levels by quantitative real-time PCR. This knowledge will yield new insights into the molecular mechanism of responses to infection.