Comparative transcriptomic and weighted gene co-expression network analysis to identify the core genes in the cultivars of Musa acuminata under both infected and chemical perturbated conditions

Banana is a high nutrient crop, which ranks fourth in terms of gross value production. Fusarium wilt of banana, caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense tropical race 4 (FocTR4), is considered the most destructive disease leading to the complete loss of production of the Cavendish cultivars Berangan, Brazilian and Williams, which are vulnerable to the infection of FocTR4. However, the treatment with benzothiadiazole, a synthetic salicylic analog, is aimed to induce resistance in plants. Thus, the treatments pertaining to the banana plants subjected to the Foc infection within the chosen cultivars were compared with chemically treated samples obtained at different time intervals for a short duration (0–4 days). The integrated omics analyses considering the parameters of WGCNA, functional annotation, and protein–protein interactions revealed that many pathways have been negatively influenced in Cavendish bananas under FocTR4 infections and the number of genes influenced also increased over time in Williams cultivar. Furthermore, elevation in immune response and resistance genes were also observed in the roots of the Cavendish banana.

香蕉是一种高营养作物，其总产值位列全球第四位。由尖孢镰刀菌古巴专化型热带生理小种4号（Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense tropical race 4，缩写FocTR4）引发的香蕉枯萎病，被认为是最具破坏性的香蕉病害，可导致易感该病原菌的卡文迪什（Cavendish）品种Berangan、Brazilian与Williams完全绝产。人工合成水杨酸类似物苯并噻二唑（benzothiadiazole）处理，旨在诱导植物产生抗病性。因此，本研究对所选易感品种中接种FocTR4的香蕉植株，与不同短时间间隔（0~4天）采集的化学处理样本开展了对比分析。整合加权基因共表达网络分析（Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis，WGCNA）、功能注释及蛋白质-蛋白质相互作用分析参数的多组学联合分析结果显示：FocTR4侵染卡文迪什香蕉后，多条通路受到负向调控；且在Williams品种中，受影响的基因数量随时间推移逐渐增多。此外，研究还观察到卡文迪什香蕉根部的免疫应答与抗病基因表达水平显著上调。