Gene regulatory networks of kiwifruit response to Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae

Kiwifruit bacterial canker caused by the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae (Psa) is one of the destructive disease that affects kiwifruit orchards leading to important losses in kiwifruit production. To study the molecular mechanism of kiwifruit in response to Psa, we integrated transcriptomic and proteomic analysis of Psa-resistance cultivar Actinidia chinensis var. deliciosa ‘Jinkui’ to explore the change in protein expression during the Psa infection. Among 2979 identified plant proteins, 466 were differentially expression after Psa inoculation. Of these, 29 proteins were co-up-regulated at both the proteomic and transcriptomic levels. The Gene regulatory networks were constructed for further enrichment the key proteins in response to Psa infection. Complementary proteome and transcriptome-level analyses revealed a complex molecular network controlling kiwifruit defense response. The candidate genes identified in this study may be useful for the marker-based breeding of Psa-resistance cultivars.