Abstract

BackgroundAphanomyces euteiches is a soil-borne oomycete that causes root rot in pea and other legume species. Symptoms of Aphanomyces root rot (ARR) include root discoloration and wilting, leading to significant yield losses in pea production. Resistance to ARR is known to be polygenic but the roles of single genes in the pea immune response are still poorly understood. This study uses transcriptomics to elucidate the immune response of two pea genotypes varying in their levels of resistance to A. euteiches.ResultsIn this study, we inoculated roots of the pea (P. sativum L.) genotypes 'Linnea' (susceptible) and 'PI180693' (resistant) with two different A. euteiches strains varying in levels of virulence. The roots were harvested at 6 h post-inoculation (hpi), 20 hpi and 48 hpi, followed by differential gene expression analysis. Our results showed a time- and genotype-dependent immune response towards A. euteiches infection, involving several WRKY and MYB-like transcription factors, along with genes associated with jasmonic acid (JA) and abscisic acid (ABA) signaling. By cross-referencing with genes segregating with partial resistance to ARR, we identified 39 candidate disease resistance genes at the later stage of infection. Among the genes solely upregulated in the resistant genotype 'PI180693', Psat7g091800.1 was polymorphic between the pea genotypes and encoded a Leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinase reminiscent of the Arabidopsis thaliana FLAGELLIN-SENSITIVE 2 receptor.ConclusionsThis study provides new insights into the gene expression dynamics controlling the immune response of resistant and susceptible pea genotypes to A. euteiches infection. We present a set of 39 candidate disease resistance genes for ARR in pea, including the putative immune receptor Psat7g091800.1, for future functional validation.

Keywords

Abscisic acid; Aphanomyces euteiches; Candidate disease resistance genes; Differential gene expression; Immune receptor; Pea breeding; Pisum sativum; Transcriptomics

Published in

BMC Plant Biology
2024, Volume: 24, number: 1, article number: 144
Publisher: BMC

SLU Authors

• Kälin, Carol

  • Department of Forest Mycology and Plant Pathology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Piombo, Edoardo

  • Department of Forest Mycology and Plant Pathology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Bourras, Salim

  • Department of Forest Mycology and Plant Pathology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Dubey, Mukesh

  • Department of Forest Mycology and Plant Pathology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Elfstrand, Malin

  • Department of Forest Mycology and Plant Pathology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Karlsson, Magnus

  • Department of Forest Mycology and Plant Pathology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Associated SLU-program

SLU Plant Protection Network


UKÄ Subject classification

Agricultural Science


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12870-024-04817-y

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/129206