Mechanism of Camellia oleifera anthracnose caused by Colletotrichum fructicola and immune mechanism of C. oleifera

Oil tea (Camellia oleifera) is one of the four major woody oil crops in the world, alongside coconut, palm, and olive, and has high ecological, economic, and medicinal value. The tea oil extracted from Camellia oleifera seeds is rich in unsaturated fatty acids and vitamin E, and has unique nutritional value. In 2020, the planting area of oil tea in China reached 45333.348 square kilometers; The production of tea oil reached 627000 tons, and the output value of the tea oil industry was 4.9 billion US dollars.Oil tea anthracnose is an important factor limiting tea oil production. Colletotrichum spp. mainly infects the leaves and fruits of oil tea, resulting in 20% to 40% fruit drop and up to 40% seed loss, causing huge economic losses and seriously damaging the safety of edible oil in China. Colletotrichum spp. is also considered one of the top ten plant pathogenic fungi in the field of molecular plant pathology due to its strong pathogenicity and widespread transmission. Therefore, in order to prevent and control anthracnose in oil tea, it is necessary to understand the infection mechanism of anthracnose and the immune mechanism of oil tea.Recently, the interaction between hosts and Colletotrichum spp. has been reported. Some transcription factors of Colletotrichum spp. (CfHac1 and CgCrzA) can affect their pathogenicity to the host. In addition, some effectors (ChECs, NIS1, CfEC92) also suppress host immunity. Some proteins or enzymes of Colletotrichum spp. (CfVam7, ChELP1, and CfGcn5) also have an impact on the pathogenicity of the host. These studies provide information on the interaction between Colletotrichum spp. and their hosts. However, according to reports, the interaction between pathogens and hosts is mostly polygenic and quantitatively inherited. Therefore, a comprehensive approach is needed to fully understand the interactions between pathogens and hosts.RNA seq has been used to study the interaction between Colletotrichum spp. and hosts. Previous studies have explored the transcriptome profile of Colletotrichum spp. infected hosts, and the results showed enrichment of small secreted protein (SSP), cytochrome P450, carbohydrate active enzyme (CAZY), and secondary metabolite (SM) synthase. There are also studies exploring the transcriptional profile of hosts after Colletotrichum spp. infection, which have found that many genes are mainly related to immune response, plant hormone signaling transduction, and secondary metabolites. Some studies have discussed the simultaneous reaction between anthrax bacteria and hosts, providing a new perspective for understanding the pathogenesis of anthrax and the host's immune mechanism. However, due to the lack of genomic information on Camellia oleifera, comprehensive stage specific transcriptome studies have not yet been conducted to evaluate the interaction between anthrax bacteria and Camellia oleifera. The overall dynamic infection mechanism of anthracnose on oil tea is still unclear, and the overall response of oil tea to anthracnose bacteria is also unclear.Previous studies have shown that Colletotrichum fructicola is the main pathogen causing anthracnose in Camellia oleifera. Therefore, in this study, we conducted dual RNA seq analysis to simultaneously determine the transcriptomes of Camellia oleifera and Aspergillus oryzae throughout the entire infection process. These data provide new insights into the infection process of fruit cone worms and the regulation of oil tea defense genes during infection.