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Comparative transcriptome profiling of compatible and incompatible Magnaporthe grisea-pearl millet interaction

Rajan Sharma: ICRISAT


<div>Blast of pearl millet caused by <em>Magnaporthe grisea </em>has recently become a disease of economic concern in India. For the better understanding of plant-pathogen interactions, the transcriptomes were captured by RNA-seq analysis of a pearl millet genotype (ICMB 93333) inoculated with <em>M. grisea </em>isolates Pg 45 and Pg 174 having avirulent and virulent reaction, respectively. The experiment was set up with two un-inoculated controls at 0 and 72 hours post-inoculation (hpi) and five infection time points 6, 12, 24, 48 and 72 hpi. The RNA-seq generated a total of 1103 million reads with an average of 92 million reads at pre-processing. A significant differential expression levels between the resistant and susceptible samples were found in 1985 genes; 1304 genes were up-regulated and 1093 genes (non-redundant) were down-regulated in the incompatible interaction. The transcriptional changes in the incompatible interaction were observed predominantly for PR protein families encoding defense response genes; genes functional in reactive oxygen species; signal transduction (cellular communication and signaling); carbohydrate, protein and lipid metabolism processes; secondary metabolic processes and cell wall alterations. The study was focused on functional classification and identification of novel genes or gene family members involved in plant–pathogen interactions, the expression pattern of which could help in the development of new disease control strategies.</div>