Differential expression profiling of defense related genes for Leaf Curl Virus (ChiLCV) in resistant and susceptible genotypes of Chiili

The present investigation was undertaken to study the expression of eight defense related genes in leaf curl resistant line DLS-Sel-10 and susceptible line Phule Mukta after different days post inoculation (dpi) with viruliferous white flies to understand their role in resistance to chilli leaf curl virus (ChiLCV). The expression level of Ca PPO, Ca AsPer, Ca ATP/ADP and CaTopoII was observed to be higher in resistant genotype DLS-Sel-10 than the susceptible Phule Mukta at all the time points studied. Expression of CaNBS-LRR increased up to 12 dpi while that of Ca Thionin, and Ca SKP1 increased up to 24 dpi in the resistant line, thereafter it started declining. The CaSPI expression did not show any specific pattern in both the test plants. The heat map clustered all the genes under study into two major clusters based on their expression profiles, one comprising CaAsPer, Ca-Thionin, CaATP/ADP transporter, CaPPO and CaTopoII while other group comprised CaSKPI, Ca NBS and CaSPI. The challenge inoculation of the test genotypes also revealed that viral titre increased at a much slower rate in DLS-Sel-10 than Phule Mukta, suggesting thereby that DLS-Sel-10 is resisting the accumulation of ChiLCV and has a more active defense machinery than Phule Mukta.