Transcriptomic Analysis Reveals Candidate Genes in Response to Sorghum Mosaic Virus and Salicylic Acid in Sugarcane

Sugarcane (Saccharum spp.), a major cash crop owing to being an important source for sugar and bioethanol, is strongly influenced by the impacts of biotic and abiotic stresses. Sorghum mosaic virus (SrMV, the genus Potyvirus of the family Potyviridae) is a causal agent of common mosaic in sugarcane and poses a threat to the global sugar industry. Salicylic acid (SA) is an important plant growth regulator that generates a wide range of responses in plants involved in plant defense. Therefore, this study had four objectives: (1) identification of two sugarcane cultivars (ROC22 and Xuezhe) resistance to SrMV infection under SA enrichment; (2) identification of key genes and signaling cascades under simultaneous SrMV infection and SA application in sugarcane cultivar Xuezhe based on the transcriptome data; (3) identification and elucidation of WRKY and PR1 family genes transcript profiling which may act as important regulators against SrMV infection under SA enrichment; and (4) depiction of the molecular mechanisms of the candidate WRKY genes responding to SrMV infection under SA enrichment.