Diplodia seriata, one of the major causal agents of Botryosphaeria dieback, spreads worldwide causing cankers, leaf spots and fruit black rot in grapevine. Vitis rupestris is an American wild grapevine widely used for resistance and rootstock breeding and was found to be highly resistant to Botryosphaeria dieback. The defence responses of V. rupestris to D. seriata 98.1 were analysed by RNA-seq in this study. There were 1365 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) annotated with gene ontology (GO) and enriched by the Kyoto Encyclopedia of gene and genome (KEGG) database. The DEGs could be allocated to the flavonoid biosynthesis pathway and the plant-pathogen interaction pathway. Among them, 53 DEGs were transcription factors (TFs). The expression levels of 12 genes were further verified by real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The aggregation of proteins on plasma membrane, formation variations in cytoskeleton and plasmodesmata, as well as hormone regulations revealed a declined physiological status in V. rupestris suspension cells after incubation with the culture filtrates of D. seriata 98.1. This study provides insights into the molecular mechanisms in grapevine cells response to D. seriata 98.1, which will be valuable for the control of Botryosphaeria dieback.
Keywords: Botryosphaeria dieback; Diplodia seriata; RNA-seq; Vitis rupestris; defence response.