Gene expression analysis in roots of Musa acuminata ssp. burmannicoides 'Calcutta-4', a banana genotype tolerant to Fusarium wilt

• Published in: Acta horticulturae no. 897; pp. 363 - 370
• Main Authors: Ravishankar, K.V, Rekha, A, Swarupa, V, Savitha, G
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: International Society for Horticultural Science 01.01.2011
• Subjects: bananas; biosynthesis; clones; complementary DNA; cultivars; discoloration; disease severity; Fusarium oxysporum; Fusarium wilt; gene expression; genes; genotype; leaves; methionine synthase; Musa acuminata; pathogens; roots; signal transduction; suppression subtractive hybridization; India
• ISSN: 0567-7572
• DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2011.897.49

Fusarium wilt, caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense (Foc), is one of the most devastating diseases of banana. In India, most banana cultivars are highly susceptible to this pathogen. In this study, wild Musa acuminata ssp. burmannicoides ‘Calcutta-4’ (tolerant) and cultivar ‘Kadali’ (AA, susceptible) were infected with Foc in pot experiments. ‘Calcutta-4’ showed significantly less disease severity symptoms than ‘Kadali’, which showed symptoms like early yellowing of leaves, browning of roots and vascular discoloration. Suppression subtractive hybridisation was carried out to identify genes induced in roots of ‘Calcutta-4’ after infection with Foc. One hundred and nine (109) clones were sequenced and 68 non-redundant sequences were obtained. They were characterised based on homology search in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database. Some cDNAs which showed homology to defence-related genes, like PGIP2, peroxidase and catalase that help in cell-wall strengthening; S-adenosyl methionine synthetase and other methyl transferases that play a role in phenylpropanoid biosynthesis and also genes that are involved in signal transduction, were identified.