Comparative transcriptomic profiling of susceptible and resistant cultivars of pigeonpea demonstrates early molecular responses during Fusarium udum infection

Arnab Purohit,Sanatan Ghosh,Shreeparna Ganguly,Madan Singh Negi,Shashi Bhushan Tripathi,Rituparna Kundu Chaudhuri,Dipankar Chakraborti

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-01587-7

Arnab Purohit, Sanatan Ghosh + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-01587-7

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Abstract

Vascular wilt caused by Fusarium udum Butler is the most important disease of pigeonpea throughout the world. F. udum isolate MTCC 2204 (M1) inoculated pigeonpea plants of susceptible (ICP 2376) and resistant (ICP 8863) cultivars were taken at invasion stage of pathogenesis process for transcriptomic profiling to understand defense signaling reactions that interplay at early stage of this plant–pathogen encounter. Differential transcriptomic profiles were generated through cDNA-AFLP from M1 inoculated resistant and susceptible pigeonpea root tissues. Twenty five percent of transcript derived fragments (TDFs) were found to be pathogen induced. Among them 73 TDFs were re-amplified and sequenced. Homology search of the TDFs in available databases and thorough study of scientific literature identified several pathways, which could play crucial role in defense responses of the F. udum inoculated resistant plants. Some of the defense responsive pathways identified to be active during this interaction are, jasmonic acid and salicylic acid mediated defense responses, cell wall remodeling, vascular development and pattering, abscisic acid mediated responses, effector triggered immunity, and reactive oxygen species mediated signaling. This study identified important wilt responsive regulatory pathways in pigeonpea which will be helpful for further exploration of these resistant components for pigeonpea improvement.

Highlights

Vascular wilt caused by Fusarium udum Butler is the most important disease of pigeonpea throughout the world
M1 infected ICP 2376 plants exhibited yellowing of roots at 30–36 h post inoculation (HPI) (Supplementary Fig. SF1b,d); yellowing and drooping of stem and leaves at 54–60 HPI (Supplementary Fig. SF1f,h); and wilting of plants occurred at 6–7 days post inoculation (DPI)
This is the first report on transcriptomic profiling of pigeonpea–F. udum interaction, and identification of differential transcript derived fragments (TDFs) associated with defense responses in pigeonpea against F. udum

Summary

Introduction

Vascular wilt caused by Fusarium udum Butler is the most important disease of pigeonpea throughout the world. Genetic improvement of pigeonpea was limited due to inadequate genomic resources and low level of genetic diversity in the primary gene pool[2,11] Complicated nature of this problem necessitates requirement of sound knowledge on molecular processes underlying resistance and susceptibility of pigeonpea cultivars for the development of cultivars with durable resistance through potent breeding programs. Reports available on molecular markers for pigeonpea wilt resistance was very scanty; these reports lacked detailed information on pathogenic races/variants of F. udum[10] In this scenario, detailed understanding of the molecular factors and signaling pathways behind disease susceptibility or resistance could help in development of resistant plants through different molecular breeding a pproaches[20,21,22]

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