Early Foc infection of ‘Brazilian’ plants
The early infection process was continuously observed every 12 h following the inoculation of ‘Brazilian’ plants with Foc1 and Foc4 spores. At 12 and 24 h after inoculation (hai), numerous Foc1 and Foc4 spores had been absorbed into the ‘Brazilian’ root surfaces, and at 48 hai, most of the spores had germinated and developed into hyphae. Moreover, many Foc4 spores and hyphae began to grow along with the gaps of epidermal cell, and the pathogen began to invade the root outer epidermal cells [24]. In a previous work, we selected the samples at 48 hai for comparative proteomic analysis [24]. In this study, we also selected samples at 48 hai to investigate the differential transcriptomics of ‘Brazilian’ roots in response to both Foc races infection. Our main objective is to understand the changes in the transcript levels of ‘Brazilian’ roots after infection with both Foc races at the same time points and to better understand the molecular mechanism underlying the difference between the resistance of ‘Brazilian’ to Foc1 and Foc4.
Illumina sequencing analysis
To identify genes participated in ‘Brazilian’ immunity in response to Foc infection, nine cDNA libraries were constructed from ‘Brazilian’ roots at 48 hai with Foc1, Foc4, or the sterile water mock-control. A total of 60,560,402, 71,856,014, 48,606,378, 51,109,106, 54,540,798, 46,434,092, 51,623,832, 62,057,528, and 45,487,338 reads were generated from the CK-1, CK-2, CK-3, Foc1-1, Foc1-2, Foc1-3, Foc4-1, Foc4-2, and Foc4-3 libraries with 83.95%, 85.63%, 87.44%, 87.90%, 87.73%, 84.36%, 87.33%, 86.16%, and 83.74% of reads successfully mapped to the reference genome of banana, respectively (Table 1).
Table 1
RNA-seq data quality of nine sample from ‘Brazilian’ root
Sample | Clean reads | Error (%) | Q20 | Q30 | Mapping ratio (%) |
CK-1 | 30280201 | 0.03 | 95.86 | 89.83 | 83.95 |
CK-2 | 35928007 | 0.03 | 98.04 | 94.26 | 85.68 |
CK-3 | 24303189 | 0.02 | 98.20 | 94.64 | 87.44 |
Foc1-1 | 25554553 | 0.02 | 98.06 | 94.27 | 87.90 |
Foc1-2 | 27270399 | 0.03 | 98.00 | 94.19 | 87.71 |
Foc1-3 | 23217046 | 0.03 | 97.50 | 92.94 | 84.36 |
Foc4-1 | 25811916 | 0.02 | 98.05 | 94.29 | 87.33 |
Foc4-2 | 31028764 | 0.02 | 98.24 | 94.79 | 86.16 |
Foc4-3 | 22743669 | 0.03 | 95.83 | 89.76 | 83.74 |
Analysis and validation of DEGs
To study the gene expression of ‘Brazilian’ roots after infected with Foc, a pairwise comparison was performed between libraries to determine DEGs. The nine libraries were analyzed to determine the number of FPKM of clean reads (Additional file 1: Table S1). Genes with FDR ≤ 0.05 and fold-change ≥ 1 were considered as differentially expressed compared with the control. A total of 1864 DEGs were identified after Foc1 infection (Additional file 1: Table S2). These DEGs included 1134 up- and 730 down-regulated genes (Fig. 1A), among which 786 genes were specifically expressed (Fig. 1B). In the Foc4 vs. CK group, 226 genes were significantly differentially expressed (Additional file 1: Table S2), including 80 up- and 146 down-regulated genes (Fig. 1A), among which 109 genes were specifically expressed (Fig. 1B). DEGs were dramatically changed in the Foc1 vs. Foc4 group, wherein 1864 DEGs were identified, including 1234 up- and 777 down-regulated genes (Fig. 1A), among which 969 were specifically expressed (Fig. 1B). Further analysis revealed that 80 DEGs were commonly shared in Foc1- and Foc4-responsive genes, of which 24 DEGs were up-regulated, 52 DEGs were down-regulated, and four DEGs showed the opposite expression trends (Fig. 1C).
To verify the RNA-Seq results, 18 DEGs involved in redox homeostasis, phytohormones, signal transduction, and secondary metabolism (the details as shown in Additional file 1: Table S3) were randomly selected for RT-qPCR analysis. The results showed that all 18 DEGs had similar expression patterns with the RNA-seq analysis (Fig. 2). This result suggested that the RNA-seq data were reliable.
Function annotation analysis of DEGs
Through Gene Ontology (GO) functional annotation, the DEGs were divided into biological process, molecular function, and cellular component. DEGs in the Foc1 vs. CK group were enriched into 712 GO terms, of which six were significantly enriched, and DEGs in the Foc4 vs. CK group were enriched into 273 GO terms, of which 16 were significantly enriched, whereas DEGs in the Foc1 vs. Foc4 group were enriched into 729 GO terms without significantly enriched terms (Table 2, Additional file 1: TableS2). Analyzing the top 30 GO enrichment terms with the lowest P-values showed that the DEGs in the Foc1 vs. CK group mainly involved heme binding, tetrapyrrole binding, iron binding, and cofactor binding biological processes, defense response, response to biotic stimulus, oxoacid metabolic process, and organic acid metabolic process (Fig. 3A). In the Foc4 vs. CK group, DEGs were mainly involved in protein folding, heme binding, ADP binding, peroxidase activity, oxidoreductase activity, and acting on peroxide as acceptor (Fig. 3B). DEGs in the Foc1 vs. Foc4 group mainly participated in response to biotic stimulus, cell wall biogenesis and defense response (Fig. 3C).
Table 2
Statistics of DEGs GO enrichment results
| Foc1 vs. CK | Foc4 vs. CK | Foc1 vs. Foc4 |
Enriched GO tern | 712 | 273 | 729 |
Significant enriched GO term | 6 | 16 | 0 |
Down regulation | 476 | 177 | 498 |
Up regulation | 616 | 141 | 592 |
Down and up regulation | 379 | 45 | 361 |
KEGG enrichment analysis revealed that the DEGs in the three comparison groups were enriched in 102, 45, and 106 pathways, respectively, of which 10, 1 and 6 pathways were significantly enriched (Additional file 1: Table S2). A total of 13 KEGG pathways in the three comparison groups showed significant enrichment, of which four pathways were significantly enriched in the Foc1 vs. CK and Foc1 vs. Foc4 groups, as follows: phenylalanine metabolism; α-linolenic acid metabolism; phenylalanine; and biosynthesis of tyrosine and tryptophan, ubiquinone, and other terpenoid quinones (Table 3). The pathway of plant hormone signal transduction was significantly enriched only in the Foc1 vs. Foc4 group, and the number of enriched genes (45) was the highest among all enrichment pathways. This pathway was also enriched with 32 and two genes in the Foc1 vs. CK and Foc4 vs. CK groups, respectively.
Table 3
Significantly enriched KEGG pathways in three compare groups
Map ID | Pathway name | Foc1 vs. CK | Foc4 vs. CK | Foc1 vs. Foc4 |
The number of DEGs | Padj | The number of DEGs | Padj | The number of DEGs | Padj |
Mus00400 | Phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan biosynthesis | 15 | 0.00 | | | 12 | 0.02 |
Mus04141 | Protein processing in endoplasmic reticulum | 34 | 0.02 | / | | 14 | 0.00 |
Mus00360 | Phenylalanine metabolism | 12 | 0.02 | / | | / | / |
Mus00960 | Tropane, piperidine and pyridine alkaloid biosynthesis | 7 | 0.02 | / | | / | / |
Mus00592 | alpha-Linolenic acid metabolism | 10 | 0.02 | / | | 12 | 0.00 |
Mus01230 | Biosynthesis of amino acids | 36 | 0.02 | / | | | |
Mus00130 | Ubiquinone and other terpenoid-quinone biosynthesis | 10 | 0.03 | / | | 10 | 0.03 |
Mus00100 | Steroid biosynthesis | 9 | 0.03 | / | | / | / |
Mus00480 | Glutathione metabolism | 16 | 0.03 | / | | / | / |
Mus00270 | Cysteine and methionine metabolism | 18 | 0.03 | / | | / | / |
Mus03010 | Ribosome | / | / | 18 | 0.00 | / | / |
Mus04075 | Plant hormone signal transduction | / | / | / | / | 45 | 0.02 |
Mus01212 | Fatty acid metabolism | / | / | / | / | 14 | 0.02 |
Further analysis of the top 20 pathways with the lowest P-value showed two common pathways in the Foc1 vs. CK and Foc4 vs. CK groups, namely, protein processing in the endoplasmic reticulum (34 genes) and isoquinolin alkaloid biosynthesis (six genes) (Fig. 3). Plant resistance-related pathways, such as ribosome, plant-pathogen interaction, and ABC transports were enriched in the Foc4 vs. CK group and included 18, four, and one DEGs, respectively. Phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, flavonoid biosynthesis, cysteine and methionine metabolism, and other pathways associated with plant resistance were enriched in the Foc1 vs. Foc4 group, and the numbers of DEGs involved were 23, eight, and 16, respectively, and these pathways were significantly enriched in the Foc1 vs. CK group (Fig. 3). We concluded that the number of DEGs in the disease-resistant pathways after Foc1 infection was significantly higher than that after Foc4 infection.
Analysis of biotic stress responses DEGs
To further understand difference in the defense response of ‘Brazilian’ plants after infection with Foc1 and Foc4, MapMan program (version 3.5.1) was employed to analyze the change in the transcription of biological stress-related DEGs. As shown in Fig. 4, compared with mock-inoculated control, the types and numbers of DEGs induced by Foc1 infection were significantly more than those induced by Foc4 infection. Intriguingly, except for one down-regulated pathogenesis related protein (PR) gene, the remaining PR protein genes were up-regulated in Foc1 vs. CK group, while three PR protein genes were down-regulated in Foc4 vs. CK group. In addition, some TF genes, such as MYB, were all up-regulated in the Foc1 vs. CK group, and the expression patterns of other TFs and several secondary metabolism-related genes in Foc1 vs. CK and Foc4 vs. CK groups were also significantly different (Fig. 4).
Finally, we observed that a group of genes associated with the hormones brassinolide, ethylene, and jasmonic acid; four genes associated with MAPK; and 14 genes associated with redox state were differentially expressed only after infection with Foc1 (Fig. 4A). The coregulated genes after infection with Foc1 and Foc4 were related to auxin signal transduction, pathogen-related proteins, proteolysis, and redox homeostasis (Fig. 4).
Metabolism overview and flavonoid pathway analysis
The above analysis showed that metabolism-related DEGs changed significantly after Foc infection. Thus, a summary of metabolism and secondary metabolic pathways analysis was carried out by MapMan software (Fig. 5, Additional file 2: Figure S1). A total of 261 DEGs after Foc1 infection were concentrated in metabolism overview pathways. These DEGs were mainly concentrated in secondary metabolic pathways (51), lipids (39), and cell wall (39) (Additional file 2: Figure S1A). By contrast, only 37 DEGs after Foc4 infection were concentrated mainly in secondary metabolic pathways (10) and lipids (6) (Additional file 2: Figure S1B). In secondary metabolism pathway, DEGs participated in phenylpropanoids, lignin, flavonoids, and simple phenols biosynthesis was drastically differed after infection with both races (Fig. 5).
The results of the secondary metabolism pathway analysis showed that the flavonoid pathway had notably changed. As shown in Fig. 5, 20 DEGs in the whole flavonoid biosynthesis pathway were activated. Among these DEGs, five anthocyanin-related genes were all up-regulated after Foc1 infection, whereas only four DEGs related to flavonoid biosynthesis were changed, among which three dihydroflavonol genes (LOC103975883, LOC103998816, and LOC103972494) were down-regulated after Foc4 infection (Fig. 5B). In addition, seven genes involved in the biosynthesis of glucosinolates were expressed exclusively after Foc1infection, whereas one gene involved in terpenoid biosynthesis was expressed exclusively after Foc4 infection (Fig. 5), these results indicated that these DEGs may play an important role in protecting plants from biological stress.
Analysis of lignin (Phenylpropanoids) biosynthesis
The phenylalanine metabolic pathway was a significantly enriched pathway in the KEGG pathway enrichment analysis (Additional file 2: Figure S2). This pathway also significantly changed in MapMan analysis. As shown in Fig. 6, compared with genes in the mock control, three phenylalnine ammonialyase (PAL) genes (LOC103983874, LOC103971627 and LOC103985827), two cinnamic acid 4-hydroxylase (C4H) genes (LOC103997903 and LOC103992160), two 4-coumaroyl-CoA synthase (4CL) genes (LOC103972208 and LOC103980720), one cinnamyl-coenzyme A reductase (CCR1) gene (LOC103984417), and three caffeic acid 3-O-methyltransferase (COMT) genes (LOC103971889, LOC103973932, and LOC103971925) were up-regulated, and 4CL gene (LOC103986414) and one CCR1 gene (LOC103982025) were down-regulated after Foc1 infection, which could lead to coumaryl aldehyde and coniferaldehyde accumulation (Fig. 6A). However, only one caffeoyl-CoA O-methyltransferase (CCoAOMT) gene (LOC103973589) was enhanced expression, and one ferulate 5-hydroxylase (F5H) gene (LOC103972494) was down-regulated after Foc4 infection (Fig. 6B).
To confirm the changes in phenylpropanoids after Foc infection, the content of phenylpropanoids (lignin, PAL, and MDA) was determined (Fig. 7). Compared with those after inoculation with the mock control, lignin content and PAL activity increased after inoculation with the two Foc races; however, lignin content after Foc1 infection was significantly higher than that after Foc4 infection (Fig. 7A, 7B). In addition, Malondialdehyde (MDA) content did not significantly differ at 0–24 hai with Foc1 and Foc4 but was significantly higher at 36–48 hai with Foc4 infection than Foc1 infection. It reached a stable level at 72 hai with Foc1 and Foc4 but remained higher than that after treatment with the mock control (Fig. 7C). The total phenolics (TP) content after Foc1 infection showed a gradual increase and then returned to the mock control level, reaching the highest value at 24 h; after Foc4 infection, the TP content slightly increased at 6 and 72 hai with Foc4 but did not differ at other time points compared with that under inoculation with the mock control. Overall, the TP content in ‘Brazilian’ roots after Foc1 infection was higher than that after Foc4 infection (Fig. 7D). Polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activity first increased and then decreased after Foc1 and Foc4 infection, reaching the highest value at 36 h (Fig. 7E). These results were consistent with the results of our previous analysis.
Analysis Of Plant Hormone Signal Pathway
Several hormone-related genes were significantly differentially expressed during the early stages of Foc infection. Seventeen genes (eight up- and nine down-regulated genes) and three genes (two up- and one down-regulated genes) were associated with the IAA pathway at 48 hai with Foc1 and Foc4, respectively (Fig. 8). After Foc1 infection, eight genes associated with the ABA pathway (including seven up- and one down-regulated genes) were differentially expressed. However, after Foc4 infection, only one gene associated with ABA was down-regulated. Forty genes associated with BA, ET, CTK, JA, and GA pathways were differentially expressed after Foc1 infection but were unaffected after Foc4 infection (Fig. 8). By contrast, we observed that no SA-related genes were differentially expressed after infection with both races. SA signaling pathway genes may be uninvolved in the defense response of ‘Brazilian’ plants against Foc in the early phase of infection, whereas other hormone-related signaling pathways may have an indispensable role in early defense response.
We observed that five DEGs related to hypersensitive cell death (LOC103971926, LOC103985684, LOC103997880, LOC103989280, and LOC103971744) were enhanced expression after Foc1 infection but were unaffected after Foc4 infection compared with that after treatment with the mock control (Additional file 1: Table S4). We speculate that these DEGs may have a critical role in mediating ‘Brazilian’ resistance to Foc.
Analysis Of Other Defense-related Pathways
During plant and pathogen interaction, the pathogen can secrete effectors to interfere in host’s defense response. Meanwhile, the host also can produce specific receptors to recognition effectors to inhibit pathogen infection. We observed that 52 RLK genes significantly changed at 48 h after Foc1 infection, whereas only one RLK gene was differentially expressed after Foc4 infection (Additional file 2: Figure S3).
MapMan analysis showed that many genes encoding E3 ubiquitin-related HECT and FBOX protein were differentially expressed after Foc1 infection, and only one gene encoding HECT protein and one FBOX protein were differentially expressed after Foc4 infection (Additional file 2: Figure S4). In addition, many heat shock proteins, such as HSP18.1, HSP16.9 and HSP70, were also up-regulated after Foc infection, but the number of the genes up-regulated was much higher after Foc1 infection than that after Foc4 infection (Additional file 1: Table S2).
Large enzyme families, such as cytochrome P450, oxidases, nitrilases, UDP glycosyltransferases, glutathione-S-transferases, GDSL-lipases, and peroxidases, also changed after Foc infection. However, the expression of these enzyme-related genes was significantly different after Foc1 and Foc4 infection. For example, 13 cytochrome P450 enzyme family genes (including nine up- and four down-regulated genes) changed after Foc1 infection, whereas six cytochrome P450 enzyme family genes were down-regulated after Foc4 infection (Additional file 2: Figure S5). The same was true of the expression of peroxidase and glutathione-S-transferase family genes (Additional file 2: Figure S5). These results suggested that the genes of large enzyme families may also play a key role in ‘Brazilian’ defense against Foc1 and Foc4.