Molecular responses of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in tolerating root rot of trifoliate orange

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) enhance plant disease resistance, while the underlying mechanisms in the molecular levels are not yet known. In this study, five-leaf-old trifoliate orange seedlings were inoculated with Funneliformis mosseae for 14 weeks and subsequently were infected by a citrus root rot pathogen Phytophthora parasitica by 7 days. The transcriptome results by Illumina HiSeq 4000 revealed that the percentage of Q30 bases reached 92.99% or above, and 29696 unigenes were annotated in a total of 63531 unigenes. 654 and 103 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were respectively annotated in AMF-inoculated versus non-AMF-inoculated plants under non-infection and infection with P. parasitica, respectively, whilst these DEGs were related to defense mechanisms, signal transduction mechanisms and secondary metabolites biosynthesis. Forty-two genes were functionally annotated as the putative 'defense mechanism', whilst AMF inoculation induced 1 gene down-regulated and 3 genes up-regulated under P. parasitica infection. AMF inoculation stimulated more genes linked to signal transduction mechanism down-regulated than non-AMF plants. Eight genes were involved in secondary metabolites biosynthesis in AMF versus non-AMF seedlings under P. parasitica-infection conditions. Such transcriptome database provided total information in the molecular levels regarding mycorrhizal roles in tolerating Phytophthora parasitica infection.