Transcriptomic profiling of Impatiens walleriana infected by downy mildew at different stages reveals novel genes in disease susceptibility

Impatiens downy mildew is a highly destructive disease of Impatiens walleriana, an economicallyimportant bedding crop in the floriculture industry. This disease is caused by a recently emergedpathogen Plasmopara obducens. Since both the host and pathogen are relatively lessstudied, there are only a few genomic resources available for both I. walleriana and P. obducens.In this study, we analyzed transcriptional changes in I. walleriana in response to P. obducens infection during different stages of disease development. Our main goal was to identify candidate genes that might be involved in I. walleriana susceptibility to P. obducens.