Dynamics in the resistant and susceptible peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) root transcriptome on infection with the Ralstonia solanacearum

Background: Bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum is a serious soil-borne disease of peanut (Arachis hypogaea L). The molecular basis of peanut response to R. solanacearum remains unknown. To understand the resistance mechanism behind peanut resistance to R. solanacearum, we used RNA-Seq to perform global transcriptome profiling on the roots of peanut resistant (R) and susceptible (S) genotypes under R. solanacearum infection. Results: A total of 4.95 x 10(8) raw sequence reads were generated and subsequently assembled into 271, 790 unigenes with an average length of 890 bp and a N50 of 1, 665 bp. 179, 641 unigenes could be annotated by public protein databases. The pairwise transcriptome comparsions of time course (6, 12, 24, 48 and 72 h post inoculation) were conducted 1) between inoculated and control samples of each genotype, 2) between inoculated samples of R and S genotypes. The linear dynamics of transcriptome profile was observed between adjacent samples for each genotype, two genotypes shared similar transcriptome pattern at early time points with most significant up regulation at 12 hour, and samples from R genotype at 24 h and S genotype at 48 h showed similar transcriptome pattern, significant differences of transcriptional profile were observed in pairwise comparisons between R and S genotypes. KEGG analysis showed that the primary metabolisms were inhibited in both genotypes and stronger inhibition in R genotype post inoculation. The defense related genes (R gene, LRR-RLK, cell wall genes, etc.) generally showed a genotype-specific down regulation and different expression between both genotypes. Conclusion: This transcriptome profiling provided the largest data set that explores the dynamic in crosstalk between peanut and R. solanacearum. The results suggested that the down-regulation of primary metabolism is contributed to the resistance difference between R and S genotypes. The genotype-specific expression pattern of defense related DEGs also contributed to the resistance difference between R and S genotype. This study will strongly contribute to better understand the molecular interaction between plant and R. solanacearum.