EVALUATING TRANSCRIPTOME CHANGES IN SWEET POTATO DURING VIRAL PATHOGEN INFECTION

Abstract

Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) ranks among the most important crops in the world and provides nutritional and economic sustainability for subsistence farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa. Its production is mainly constrained by Sweet potato virus disease (SPVD) caused by the coinfection by two positive-sense single-stranded RNA viruses, Sweet potato chlorotic stunt virus and Sweet potato feathery mottle virus. Current understanding of sweet potato responses to these viruses at the molecular level remains very limited. In this study, we performed deep transcriptome sequencing in three sweet potato cultivars with varying degrees of viral resistance, coupled with comprehensive and integrated analytical approaches, to identify biological pathways that contribute to both general and specific host responses to these important viral pathogens. We found that much of the antiviral response was effector-triggered immunity (ETI) specific, and that the expression patterns (both timing and magnitude) of this response were dependent on each cultivar’s resistance to SPVD.