Fraxinus excelsior and Fraxinus mandshurica transcriptional response to infection by Hymenoscyphus fraxineus

In the recent decades, European ash, Fraxinus excelsior, has suffered from infection by the invasive pathogen Hymenoscyphus fraxineus, decimating the European ash stands. The fungus originates from Asia where it is associated with Fraxinus mandshurica, which is assumed to be one of the natural hosts. A fraction of the European F. excelsior population exhibits exceptionally low susceptibiliy to disease infection, however the genetic background is, so far, unknown. Here we compare the transcriptomes from leaves of a highly susceptible (Tree 27) and a highly tolerant F. excelsior individual (Tree 35) and F. mandshurica, under infection, to identify genes potentially involved in resistance/tolerance towards H. fraxineus.