Comparative transcriptome profiling of pomegranate genotypes having resistance and susceptible reaction to Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. punicae

Abstract Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) is an important fruit crop, rich in fiber, vitamins, antioxidants, minerals and source of different biologically active compounds. The bacterial blight caused by Xanthomonas axonopodispv. punicae is a serious threat to the crop leading to 60- 80 % yield loss under epiphytotic conditions. In this work, we have generated comparative transcriptome profile to mark the gene expression signatures during resistance and susceptible interactions. We analyzed leaf and fruits samples of moderately resistant genotype (IC 524207) and susceptible variety (Bhagawa) of pomegranate at three progressive infection stages upon inoculation with the pathogen. RNA-Seq with the Illumina HiSeq 2500 platform revealed 1,88,337 non-redundant (nr) transcript sequences from raw sequencing data, for a total of 34,626 unigenes with size > 2 kb. Moreover, 85.3% unigenes were annotated in at least one of the seven databases examined. Comparative analysis of gene-expression signatures in resistant and susceptible varieties showed that the genes known to be involved in defense mechanism in plants were up-regulated in resistant variety. Gene Ontology (GO) analysis successfully annotated 90,485 pomegranate unigenes, of which 68,464 were assigned to biological, 78,107 unigenes molecular function and 44,414 to cellular components. Significantly enriched GO terms in DEGs were related to oxidations reduction biological process, protein binding and oxidoreductase activity. This transcriptome data on pomegranate could help in understanding resistance and susceptibility nature of cultivars and further detailed fine mapping and functional validation of identified candidate gene would provide scope for resistance breeding programme in pomegranate.