Comparative analyses of RNA-seq and phytohormone data of sweetpotatoes inoculated with Dickeya dadantii causing bacterial stem and root rot of sweetpotato

Bacterial stem and root rot (BSRR) in sweetpotato caused by Dickeya dadantii is one of the ten major diseases of sweetpotatoes in China. However, the molecular mechanism underlying the resistance of sweetpotato to D. dadantii remains unclear. This study adopted a resistance identification assay that conformed Guangshu87 (GS87) as BSRR-resistant and Xinxiang (XX) as susceptible. Compared to XX, GS87 effectively prevented the invasion and dissemination of D. dadantii in planta. An RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) analysis identified 54,844 expressed unigenes between GS87 and XX at four different stages. Further, it revealed that GS87 was more able to regulate the expressions of more unigenes after the inoculation with D. dadantii, including resistance (R) and transcription factors (TF) genes. Moreover, content measurements of disease resistance-related phytohormones showed that both jasmonic acids (JAs) and salicylic acids (SAs) accumulated in D. dadantii-inoculated sweetpotatoes, and JAs may negatively regulate sweetpotato resistance against D. dadantii and accumulated faster than SAs. Meanwhile, determinations of ROS production rate and relevant enzymatic/non-enzymatic activity highlighted the vital roles of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) in confering GS87 resistance against D. dadantii. Additionally, several hub genes with high connectivity were highlighted through Protein–Protein interaction (PPI) network analysis. In summary, the findings in this study contribute to the understanding of the different responses of resistant and susceptible sweetpotato cultivars to D. dadantii infection, and it also provide the first insight into the relevant candidate genes and phytohormones involved in the resistance of sweetpotato to D. dadantii.