Examination and analysis of genes responsive to pathogens in potato

Potato is one of the most important sources in the supply of food and industrial raw materials not only in Iran but also in the world which its yield is affected by various pathogens. Among these pathogens, PVY, PVX and nematode are the main factors of yield reduction. The molecular mechanism underlying disease resistance in potato remains largely unknown. In this study, analysis of gene expression profiles from the GEO data of three pathogen infections in potato was performed and morphological traits under four stresses were investigated. For this purpose, 501 common genes with different expression (DEGs) were studied in two experiments. Functional enrichment analysis showed that DEGs are more involved in nitrogen and primary metabolic cycle, GTP binding and GTPase binding, which are continuously up-regulated after inoculation with different pathogens. Based on the analysis of morphological traits under four stresses, PVY and PVX/PVY interaction left a significant difference with other stresses (PVX and nematode) on these traits. Potato microarray data extracted from GEO database were used for weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA). Based on the results of the network, 2 groups (modules) of genes were obtained whose expression profiles were highly correlated with each other in response to the above-mentioned four stresses. The results of this experiment provide valuable insight into the pathways and genes affected by PVY, PVX, PVX/PVY and potato nematode viruses, which may facilitate to identify genes resistant to many diseases in potato.