Transcriptional Insight Into Resistance Genes and -Mediated Defense Response Against the Infection.

The phytopathogenic fungus causes the blackleg disease on , resulting in severe loss of rapeseed production. Breeding of resistant cultivars containing race-specific resistance genes is provably effective to combat this disease. While two allelic resistance genes and recognizing avirulence genes and at plant apoplastic space have been cloned in , the downstream gene expression network underlying the resistance remains elusive. In this study, transgenic lines expressing and were created in the susceptible "Westar" cultivar and inoculated with isolates containing different sets of and for comparative transcriptomic analysis. Through grouping the RNA-seq data based on different levels of defense response, we find and orchestrate a hierarchically regulated gene expression network, consisting of induced ABA acting independently of the disease reaction, activation of signal transduction pathways with gradually increasing intensity from compatible to incompatible interaction, and specifically induced enzymatic and chemical actions contributing to hypersensitive response with recognition of and . This study provides an unconventional investigation into and -mediated plant defense machinery and adds novel insight into the interaction between surface-localized receptor-like proteins (RLPs) and apoplastic fungal pathogens.