Modulation of apple leaf transcriptome by QTLs and infection by Venturia inaequalis

Induction of whole genome gene expression level changes in leaves of grafted apple genotypes exhibiting contrasted QTL architecture (from one to a combination of three QTL) after the inoculation of the pathogenic fungus Venturia inaequalis A total of 16 samples, corresponding to two biological replicates (A and B) for both untreated and treated samples (i.e Water and Venturia inaequalis strain EU-B04) and for four categories of QTLs, were used for differential gene expression analysis. The first class is composed of four genotypes with no favourable alleles (NoscabQTL) for neither qT1, qF11 or qF17 QTLs. The second class is composed of four genotypes with favourable alleles solely for the qT1 QTL (qT1). The third class is composed of four genotypes with favourable alleles from both qF11 and qF17 QTLs (qF11qF17). Finally, the fourth class is composed of four genotypes with favourable alleles of all three QTLs qT1, qF11 and qF17 (qT1qF11qF17).