Advanced genes expression pattern greatly contributes to divergence in resistance between and .

, representing one of the world's major pathogens, causes Verticillium wilt in important woody species, ornamentals, agricultural, etc., consequently resulting in a serious decline in production and quality, especially in cotton. and are two kinds of widely cultivated cotton species that suffer from Verticillium wilt, while has much higher resistance toward it than . However, the molecular mechanism regarding their divergence in Verticillium wilt resistance remains largely unknown. In the current study, Hai7124 and acc. TM-1 were compared at 0, 12, 24, 48, 72, 96, 120, and 144 h post-inoculation (hpi) utilizing high throughput RNA-Sequencing. As a result, a total of 3,549 and 4,725 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified, respectively. In particular, the resistant type Hai7124 displayed an earlier and faster detection and signaling response to the infection and demonstrated higher expression levels of defense-related genes over TM-1 with respect to transcription factors, plant hormone signal transduction, plant-pathogen interaction, and nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat (NLR) genes. This study provides new insights into the molecular mechanisms of divergence in resistance between and and important candidate genes for breeding resistant cotton cultivars.