RNA-seq studies of grafting pepper

Grafting is widely used to defense soil borne diseases and nematodes. Currently, the underlying mechanism for resistance advancement of grafting plants to disease is largely unknown. We found grafting cv. Ledou scion to cv. Jingxin No. 5 rootstocks improved the resistance performance of pepper to Phytophthora capsici. To gain insights into the regulatory networks related to grafting, we performed transcriptome analysis of grafting and control pepper plants with or without P. capsici inoculation. Our results suggest the dynamic transcriptional programming in grafting pepper that underpin P. capsici disease and providing insight that the fine-tuning balance between growth and defense of grafting pepper.