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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Crop and Product Physiology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1478055
This article is part of the Research Topic Fruit Trees Under Stress: Physiological, Biochemical, and Molecular Mechanisms View all articles

Transcriptomic and sugar metabolic analysis reveals molecular mechanisms of peach gummosis in response to Neofusicoccum parvum

Provisionally accepted
Yang Zhang Yang Zhang Yong Liu Yong Liu Zhimeng Gan Zhimeng Gan Wei Du Wei Du Xiaoyan Ai Xiaoyan Ai Wei Zhu Wei Zhu *Huiliang Wang Huiliang Wang *Furong Wang Furong Wang *Linzhong Gong Linzhong Gong *Huaping He Huaping He *
  • Institute of Fruit and Tea, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Peach gummosis, a devastating disease caused by Neofusicoccum parvum, significantly shortens peach tree lifespan and reduces the yield of peach trees. Despite its impact, the molecular mechanism underlying this disease remains largely unexplored. In this study, we used RNA-seq, sugar metabolism measurements, and an integrated transcriptional and metabolomic analysis to uncover the molecular events driving peach gummosis.Our results revealed that N. parvum infection drastically altered the transcripts of cell wall degradation-related genes, the log2Fold change in the transcript level of Prupe.1G088900 encoding xyloglucan endotransglycosylase decreased 2.6-fold, while Prupe.6G075100 encoding expansin increased by 2.58-fold at 12 hpi under N. parvum stress. Additionally,, sugar content analysis revealed an increase in maltose, sucrose, Lrhamnose, and inositol levels in the early stages of infection, while D-galactose, Dglucose, D-fructose consistently declined as gummosis progressed. Key genes related to cell wall degradation and starch degradation, as well as UDP-sugar biosynthesis, were significantly upregulated in response to N. parvum. These findings suggest that N. parvum manipulates cell wall degradation and UDP-sugar-related genes to invade peach shoot cells, ultimately triggering gum secretion. Furthermore, weighted gene coexpression network analysis (WGCNA) identified two transcription factors, ERF027 and bZIP9, as central regulators in the downregulated and upregulated modules, respectively. Overall, this study enhances our understanding of the physiological and molecular responses of peach trees to N. parvum infection and provide valuable insights into the mechanisms of peach defense against biotic stresses.

    Keywords: peach, gummosis, N. parvum, Transcriptome, Sugar metabolome

    Received: 09 Aug 2024; Accepted: 26 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Zhang, Liu, Gan, Du, Ai, Zhu, Wang, Wang, Gong and He. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Wei Zhu, Institute of Fruit and Tea, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, China
    Huiliang Wang, Institute of Fruit and Tea, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, China
    Furong Wang, Institute of Fruit and Tea, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, China
    Linzhong Gong, Institute of Fruit and Tea, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, China
    Huaping He, Institute of Fruit and Tea, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, China

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