Peronospora belbahrii infected Sweet Basil transcriptome timecourse

Basil downy mildew (BDM) caused by Peronospora Belbahrii leads to losses in sweet basil cultivation across the world. Though resistant cultivars of basil exist, the formation of sterile offspring and the introduction of unwanted phenotypic and chemotypic traits slows breeding. Previous work by the Simon lab at Rutgers University identified pair of sweet basil cultivars; one resistant to BDM, MRI, and one susceptible, SB22. They predicted that three genes in MRI confer increased BDM resistance. RNA from infected MRI and SB22 plants was harvested during the first 3 days of infection at 4 timepoints in order to capture as many early phases of plant-pathogen interaction as possible. The goal is to develop resistance markers for use in breeding experiments. Two basil cultivars sequenced. Each cultivar was sequenced 12 hours post mock innoculation as well as 12, 24, 48, and 72 hours post innoculation with peronospora belbahrii. Additionally sporangia from P. belbahrii were sequenced as a pathogen control. Every datapoint was sequenced in triplicate including the sporangia control.