Transcriptomic de novo analysis of pitaya (Hylocereus polyrhizus) canker disease caused by Neoscytalidium dimidiatum

Canker disease caused by Neoscytalidium dimidiatum is the most serious disease that attacks the pitaya industry. One pathogenic fungus, referred to as ND8, was isolated from the wild-type red-fleshed pitaya (Hylocereus polyrhizus) of Hainan Province. Here, we studied mainly the host responses of red-fleshed pitaya (H. polyrhizus) cultivars against N. dimidiatum using Illumina RNA-Seq technology. Overall design: Healthy and diseased stem tissues of red-fleshed pitaya (H. polyrhizus) were collected in the orchard of Ledong County, Hainan Province. They had been growing for about five years in a plantation under natural conditions. The collected stem tissues were divided into two groups with similar characteristics in triplicate within each group. The stems were cut into pieces and immediately frozen in liquid nitrogen. The three replicates of the normal group were named N1, N2, and N3, whereas the three replicates of the diseased group were named D1, D2, and D3. Three biological replicates, each consisting of four stem cutting bases, were frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at -80 °C until further analysis. Sample tissues were entrusted to Shenzhen BGI Tech Company (Shenzhen, China) for transcriptome de novo assembly and sequencing using an Illumina HiSeq system. This represents D1, D3, N2, and N3 only.