RNA-Seq study on two mutant strains of Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. brasiliense

Phytopathogenic bacteria are able to adapt, sense and respond to different stresses encountered during infection. These responses enable pathogens to withstand specific stressful conditions and at the same time express virulence-associated genes. Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. brasiliense (Pcb 1692) an important phytopathogen responsible for causing blackleg and soft rot disease in potatoes during field production and after post-harvest. The global impact caused by phoP or slyA deletion in the Pcb1692 genome towards in planta transcriptional profiles were analyzed in an original whole-transcriptome data sets comprising ~124 million RNA-Seq reads. Transcriptional variations between wild-type Pcb1692 and mutant strains during infection enabled collective identification of 511 genes affected (up-/down-regulation) by both PhoP and SlyA regulatory networks either 12 or 24 hours post-infection on potato tubers.