Identification of pathogenicity genes in the germinating cysts of Phytophthora cinnamomi using RNA seq

P. cinnamomi is an economically important pathogen that causes root rot on many plant species including avocado. We identified the repertoire of pathogenicity related genes by sequencing an RNA-seq library of the cysts and germinating cysts using the Illumina platform. Over 70 000 unigenes were identified from over 225 000 contigs assembled from the raw reads. After contaminant sequences were removed, > 37 000 unigenes had homology to Phytophthora gene models. After bioinformatic analysis we identified 2000 unigenes with putative roles in pathogenicity.