Tolerance of olive (Olea europaea) cv Frantoio to Verticillium dahliae relies on both basal and pathogen-induced differential transcriptomic responses

• Published in: The New phytologist Vol. 217; no. 2; pp. 671 - 686
• Main Authors: Leyva‐Pérez, María de la O, Jiménez‐Ruiz, Jaime, Gómez‐Lama Cabanás, Carmen, Valverde‐Corredor, Antonio, Barroso, Juan B., Luque, Francisco, Mercado‐Blanco, Jesús
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England New Phytologist Trust 01.01.2018; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Adaptation, Physiological - genetics; Cultivars; defence response; defoliating pathotype; Disease control; Disease resistance; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; Gene Ontology; Genes; Genes, Plant; Genetics; Infections; Inoculation; Nucleic acids; Olea - genetics; Olea - microbiology; Olea - physiology; olive transcriptome; Pathogenesis; Pathogens; Plant Roots - genetics; Plant Roots - microbiology; Plant tissues; Plants (botany); Proteins; Reactive oxygen species; Ribonucleic acid; RNA; RNA‐seq; Tissue; tolerance; Transcriptome - genetics; Tree crops; vascular pathogen; Verticillium - pathogenicity; Verticillium dahliae; Verticillium wilt; verticillium wilt of olive; defence response; RNA-seq; verticillium wilt of olive; vascular pathogen; olive transcriptome; defoliating pathotype; tolerance
• ISSN: 0028-646X; 1469-8137
• DOI: 10.1111/nph.14833

Verticillium wilt of olive (VWO) is one of the most serious biotic constraints for this tree crop. Our knowledge of the genetics of the tolerance/resistance to this disease is very limited. Here we show that tolerance of the cv Frantoio relies on both basal and early pathogeninduced differential transcriptomic responses. A comparative transcriptomic analysis (RNA-seq) was conducted in root tissues of cvs Frantoio (VWO-tolerant) and Picual (VWO-susceptible). RNA samples originated from roots of inoculated olive plants during the early infection stages by Verticillium dahliae (highly virulent, defoliating pathotype). A huge number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were found between ‘Frantoio’ and ‘Picual’ (27 312 unigenes) in the absence of the pathogen. Upon infection with V. dahliae, ‘Picual’ and ‘Frantoio’ plants responded differently too. In the early infection stages, four clusters of DEGs could be identified according to their time-course expression patterns. Among others, a pathogenesis-related protein of the Bet v I family and a dirigent-like protein involved in lignification, and several BAK1, NHL1, reactive oxygen species stress response and BAM unigenes showed noticeable differences between cultivars. Tolerance of ‘Frantoio’ plants to VWO is a consequence of a complex and multifaceted process which involves many plant traits.