AUTHOR=Zhao Jing , Guo Yuan , Li Zhengnan , Shi Yajun , Sun Pingping 

TITLE=Integrated transcriptome and metabolome profiling reveals mechanisms underlying the infection of Cytospora mali in “Jin Hong” branches

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=15

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2024.1394447

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2024.1394447

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Introduction</title><p>Valsa canker, caused by <italic>Cytospora mali</italic>, is a destructive disease in apple production. However, the mechanism by which apple defend against <italic>C. mali</italic> infection remains unclear.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>In this study, the integrative transcriptional and metabolic analysis were used to investigate the responses of the ‘Jin Hong’ apple branches to the invasion of <italic>C. mali</italic>.</p></sec><sec><title>Results and Discussion</title><p>Results showed that the differentially expressed genes were mainly enriched in the pathways of carbon metabolism, photosynthesis-antenna proteins, and biosynthesis of amino acids pathways. Additionally, the differentially accumulated metabolites were significantly enriched in aminoacyl-tRNA biosynthesis, fructose and mannose metabolism, and alanine, aspartate, and glutamate metabolism pathways. Conjoint analysis revealed that <italic>C. mali</italic> infection significantly altered 5 metabolic pathways, 8 highly relevant metabolites and 15 genes of apples. Among which the transcription factors WRKY and basic domain leucine zipper transcription family were induced, the α-linolenic acid and betaine were significantly accumulated in <italic>C. mali</italic> infected apple stems. This work presents an overview of the changes in gene expression and metabolic profiles in apple under the inoculation of <italic>C. mali</italic>, which may help to further screen out the mechanism of plant-pathogen interaction at the molecular level.</p></sec>