AUTHOR=Curto Rubio Miguel , Krajinski Franziska , Schlereth Armin , Rubiales Olmedo Diego 

TITLE=Transcriptional profiling of Medicago truncatula during Erysiphe pisi infection

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=6

YEAR=2015

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2015.00517

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2015.00517

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=<p>Resistance to powdery mildew has been studied in a number of plant species, yet the molecular mechanisms remain largely unknown. Transcription factors (TFs) play a critical role in the plant defense response by regulating the transcriptional machinery which coordinates the expression of a large group of genes involved in plant defense. Using high-throughput quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) technology more than 1000 <italic>Medicago truncatula</italic> TFs were screened in a pair of susceptible and resistant genotypes of <italic>M. truncatula</italic> after 4 h of <italic>Erysiphe pisi</italic> infection. Seventy nine TF genes, belonging to 33 families showed a significant transcriptional change in response to <italic>E. pisi</italic> infection. Forty eight TF genes were differentially expressed in the resistant genotypes compared to the susceptible one in response to <italic>E. pisi</italic> infection, including pathogenesis-related transcriptional factors, AP2/EREBP (APETALA2/ETHYLENE-RESPONSIVE ELEMENT BINDING FACTORS), WRKY (highly conserved WRKYGQK amino-acid sequence), MYB (Myeloblastoma), homeodomain (HD) and zinc finger C<sub>2</sub>C<sub>2</sub> (CYS<sub>2</sub>-CYS<sub>2</sub>), C<sub>2</sub>H<sub>2</sub>, (CYS<sub>2</sub>-HIS<sub>2</sub>), LIM (<italic>L</italic>in-11, <italic>I</italic>sl-1, <italic>M</italic>ec-3) gene families, which are involved in known defense responses. Our results suggest that these TF genes are among the <italic>E. pisi</italic> responsive genes in resistant <italic>M. truncatula</italic> that may constitute a regulatory network which controls the transcriptional changes in defense genes involved in resistance to <italic>E. pisi</italic>.</p>