Pinus pinaster inoculated with H2O. Pinus pinaster

Pine wilt disease (PWD), caused by the pinewood nematode (PWN; B. xylophilus), vectored by the cerambycid beetle (Monochamus spp.), damages and kills pine trees and is causing serious economic damage worldwide. Although the mechanism of infestation is well described, the plant's molecular response to the pathogen is not well known. This is due mainly to the tree's large genome, lack of available genomic information, and the complexity of the disease. High-throughput sequencing is now an efficient route for generating enormous sequence information that represents expressed genes. It provides a valuable tool for characterizing functional genetic variation in non-model organisms, especially where whole genome sequencing is not yet available. In an attempt to unravel genes potentially involved in the pines defense response to the pathogen, we performed high-throughput sequence analysis of infested and non-infested stems of P. pinaster (very susceptible to PWN) and P. pinea (less susceptible to PWN), and compared their transcriptional profile.