The investigation of global gene expression changes in resistant and susceptible tomato plant lines infected with Tomato curly stunt virus

We investigated the molecular mechanisms underlying tomato plant responses to Tomato curly stunt virus (ToCSV) infection, a Begomovirus that has caused crop losses in Southern Africa since its identification in 1997. The primary goal wass to elucidate the differential transcriptomic responses between susceptible (Rooikhaki) and resistant (ESTY) tomato cultivars at 15 and 35 days post-infection to identify key genes and pathways involved in viral resistance and susceptibility. The study employed Illumina paired-end sequencing to capture global gene expression changes, providing comprehensive insights into temporal dynamics of plant defense responses.