Pinus pinaster infected with B. xylophilus. 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.

松材线虫病（Pine wilt disease, PWD）由松材线虫（pinewood nematode, PWN; B. xylophilus）引发，通过天牛科墨天牛属（Monochamus spp.）甲虫传播，可造成松树损伤乃至死亡，目前已在全球范围内造成严重经济损失。尽管该病害的侵染机制已有较为充分的阐释，但宿主植物对病原菌的分子应答机制仍未得到深入解析，这主要归因于林木基因组规模庞大、可用基因组信息匮乏，以及病害本身的复杂致病过程。如今，高通量测序（high-throughput sequencing）已成为获取海量表达基因（expressed genes）序列信息的高效手段，可为非模式生物（non-model organisms）的功能遗传变异（functional genetic variation）特征解析提供极具价值的工具，尤其适用于全基因组测序尚未普及的研究场景。为阐明参与松树对病原菌防御反应（defense response）的潜在基因，本研究对高感松材线虫的海岸松（Pinus pinaster, P. pinaster）以及低感松材线虫的意大利石松（Pinus pinea, P. pinea）的侵染茎段与健康茎段开展了高通量测序分析，并对二者的转录表达谱进行了比较。