Resistant and Susceptible ParL. Show Highly Divergent Patterns of Differentially Expressed Genes during the Process of Infection by .

Pine wilt disease (PWD) is a devastating disease that threatens pine forests worldwide, and breeding resistant pines is an important management strategy used to reduce its impact. A batch of resistant seeds of was introduced from Japan. Based on the resistant materials, we obtained somatic plants through somatic embryogenesis. In this study, we performed transcriptome analysis to further understand the defense response of resistant somatic plants of to PWD. The results showed that, after pine wood nematode (PWN) infection, resistant stimulated more differential expression genes (DEGs) and involved more regulatory pathways than did susceptible . For the first time, the alpha-linolenic acid metabolism and linoleic acid metabolism were intensively observed in pines resisting PWN infection. The related genes () and pathogenesis-related genes (), as well as reactive oxygen species (ROS)-related genes were significantly up-expressed in order to contribute to protection against PWN inoculation in . In addition, the diterpenoid biosynthesis pathway was significantly enriched only in resistant . These findings provided valuable genetic information for future breeding of resistant conifers, and could contribute to the development of new diagnostic tools for early screening of resistant pine seedlings based on specific PWN-tolerance-related markers.