Comparative transcriptome analysis of Citrus macrophylla tree infected with Citrus tristeza virus (CTV) stem-pitting mutants

Purpose: Stem-pitting (SP) disease is a complex and economically important virus associated disease of citrus and other perennial woody plants. Despite the prevalence of SP in a range of plant species and specifically the economic importance of this syndrome to the citrus industry, the underlying molecular mechanisms, and pathways occurring during virus-plant interactions that result in stem pits symptom development are still unclear. To understand molecular mechanism behind this phenomenon, we conducted comparative transcriptome analyses of Citrus macrophylla tree infected with CTV different mutant lines which induce different degrees of stem-pitting phenotypes and full-length virus in addition healthy plants as control.