Genome-wide characterization and expression of the TLP gene family associated with inoculation in × .

BACKGROUND

, a soil-borne fungal pathogen, causes significant yield losses in many plants, including cultivated strawberry (, 2n = 8x = 56). Thaumatin-like proteins (TLPs) are a large and complex family of proteins that play a vital role in plant host defense and other physiological processes.

METHODS

To enhance our understanding of the antifungal activity of TLPs (), we investigated the genome-wide identification of gene families and their expression patterns in plants upon pathogen infection. Moreover, we used RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) to detect the differences in the expression patterns of TLP genes between different resistant strawberry cultivars in response to infection.

RESULTS

In total, 76 TLP genes were identified from the octoploid cultivated strawberry genome with a mean length of 1,439 bp. They were distributed on 24 chromosomes. The family was then divided into ten groups (Group I-X) according to the comparative phylogenetic results. Group VIII contained the highest number of TLP family genes. qRT-PCR analysis results indicated that , , , , and were upregulated following infection in the resistant octoploid strawberry.

CONCLUSIONS

The data showed some differences in TLP gene expression patterns across different resistant strawberry cultivars, as well as faster TLP defense responses to pathogenic fungi in resistant cultivars. This study will aid in the characterization of TLP gene family members found in octoploid strawberries and their potential biological functions in plants' defenses against pathogenic fungi.