Transcriptome comparison of resistant and susceptible sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) varieties inoculated with Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. sesami

Abstract Sesame Fusarium wilt ( FW ) is a worldwide and hardly controlled fungus disease in sesame. Till now, the molecular resistance mechanism of sesame to FW remains unknown. The two resistant and susceptible sesame varieties, that is ‘Yuzhi 11’ and Rongxian black sesame ( RXBS ), were inoculated with Fusarium oxysporum f. sp . sesami ( Fos ) pathogens for 0, 6, 24 or 24 and 48h, respectively. Then, transcriptome samples were sequenced and surveyed systematically using RNA ‐seq technology. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes ( KEGG ) analysis showed that ‘phenylpropanoid biosynthesis’ pathway may play more important role in sesame resistance after Fos inoculation. Furthermore, qRT ‐ PCR results demonstrated that the phenylpropanoid pathway with an emphasis on the synthesis of lignin contributes to the sesame disease resistance. Moreover, activity of phenylalanine ammonia lyase ( PAL ) and peroxidase ( POD ) proved the differences of gene expression patterns in the two sesame phenotypes. Overall, we speculated that the difference of FW symptoms between the resistant and susceptible plants might depend on whether the plants could activate the pathway timely and efficiently or not. The findings would help to clarify the molecular mechanism of sesame resistance to FW .