Zumaquero, AdelaMartınez-Ferri, ElsaMatas, Antonio J.Reeksting, Bianca J.Olivier, Nicholas AbrahamPliego-Alfaro, FernandoBarcelo, AraceliVan den Berg, Noelani2020-08-252020-08-252019-02Zumaquero A, Martı´nez-Ferri E, Matas AJ, Reeksting B, Olivier NA, Pliego-Alfaro F, et al. (2019) Rosellinia necatrix infection induces differential gene expression between tolerant and susceptible avocado rootstocks. PLoS ONE 14(2): e0212359. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0212359.1932-6203 (online)10.1371/journal. pone.0212359http://hdl.handle.net/2263/75883S1 Table. Annotation and expression values of differentially expressed genes grouped by hierarchical clustering (HCL). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0212359.s001S2 Table. Top 20 overexpressed genes in ‘Dusa’-b, ‘Dusa’-a and BG83 avocado rootstocks after infection with R. necatrix. Description and features of the top 20 overexpressed genes in the ‘Dusa’-b, ‘Dusa’-a and BG83 avocado rootstocks after infection with R. necatrix. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0212359.s002S3 Table. qRT-PCR primer sequences used in this study. Primer sequences used in this study. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0212359.s003S1 Fig. Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis of group 1 obtained in the hierarchical clustering analysis of Fig 4. Enrichment of GO terms obtained with Blast2GO using a cut-off of 0.025. (BP) biological process and (MF) molecular function. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0212359.s004S2 Fig. Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis of group 3 obtained in the hierarchical clustering analysis of Fig 4. Enrichment of GO terms obtained with Blast2GO using a cut-off of 0.025. (BP) biological process and (MF) molecular function. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0212359.s005Rosellinia necatrix is the causal agent of avocado white root rot (WRR). Control of this soilborne disease is difficult, and the use of tolerant rootstocks may present an effective method to lessen its impact. To date, no studies on the molecular mechanisms regulating the avocado plant response towards this pathogen have been undertaken. To shed light on the mechanisms underpinning disease susceptibility and tolerance, molecular analysis of the gene’s response in two avocado rootstocks with a contrasting disease reaction was assessed. Gene expression profiles against R. necatrix were carried out in the susceptible ‘Dusa’ and the tolerant selection BG83 avocado genotypes by micro-array analysis. In ‘Dusa’, the early response was mainly related to redox processes and cell-wall degradation activities, all becoming enhanced after disease progression affected photosynthetic capacity, whereas tolerance to R. necatrix in BG83 relied on the induction of protease inhibitors and their negative regulators, as well as genes related to tolerance to salt and osmotic stress such as aspartic peptidase domain-containing proteins and gdsl esterase lipase proteins. In addition, three protease inhibitors were identified, glu protease, trypsin and endopeptidase inhibitors, which were highly overexpressed in the tolerant genotype when compared to susceptible ‘Dusa’, after infection with R. necatrix, reaching fold change values of 52, 19 and 38, respectively. The contrasting results between ‘Dusa’ and BG83 provide new insights into the different mechanisms involved in avocado tolerance to Phytophthora cinnamomi and R. necatrix, which are consistent with their biotrophic and necrotrophic lifestyles, respectively. The differential induction of genes involved in salt and osmotic stress in BG83 could indicate that R. necatrix penetration into the roots is associated with osmotic effects, suggesting that BG83’s tolerance to R. necatrix is related to the ability to withstand osmotic imbalance. In addition, the high expression of protease inhibitors in tolerant BG83 compared to susceptible ‘Dusa’ after infection with the pathogen suggests the important role that these proteins may play in the defence of avocado rootstocks against R. necatrix.en© 2019 Zumaquero et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.Rosellinia necatrixSoil borne diseaseAvocado (Persea americana)GenotypeCropWhite root rot (WRR)RootstocksArticle