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Dark brown leaf spot on tea (Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze) caused by Epicoccum mackenziei Jayasiri, Camporesi & K. D. Hyde has caused a loss in the yield and quality of tea leaves in Guizhou Province, Southwest China. No research has been published on the gene expression profiles of tea leaves during infection by E. mackenziei. In this study, we report the high-quality transcriptome sequencing of tea genes during infection, using high-throughput next-generation sequencing on the Illumina Novaseq 6000 platform. The infection resulted in significantly up- or downregulated expression of the 960 or 397 differentially expressed mRNAs (DEmRNAs) from tea leaves, respectively. The DEmRNAs were annotated using the Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes databases. The expression of DEmRNA peroxidase 21 (TEA000222.1) was upregulated in response to infection by the pathogen and was enriched in terms of defense response to fungi at the biological process aspect. Expression of 26 or 13 of the tea DEmRNAs enriched in the pathways of plant-pathogen interaction were up- or downregulated, respectively, such as the genes WRKY transcription factor 1 (TEA028099.1), probable disease resistance protein At4g27220 (TEA018574.1), and serine/threonine-protein kinase CDL1 (TEA006388.1), which were downregulated. This comprehensive gene expression profiling study of tea leaves infected by this fungal pathogen will provide a valuable resource for future research on the identification of the host genes associated with the response to pathogen challenge and ultimately with disease resistance in the host. [Figure: see text] Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.

Due to our lack of understanding of the host-pathogen epidemiology and the absence of effective control measures, tea leaf spot, caused by the fungus Epicoccum sorghinum, continues to reduce the productivity and quality of tea leaves in plantations in Guizhou Province, southwestern China. Here, samples of tea (Camellia sinensis [L.] O Kuntze) leaves either infected or uninfected by E. sorghinum were used as the study model. The mRNA and microRNA (miRNA) sequences in tea leaves from the two treatments were determined using the Illumina NovaSeq 6000 and the Illumina HiSeq 2500 platforms, respectively. In total, 33,932 genes or transcripts from tea leaves were annotated. In response to infection by E. sorghinum, 1,068 or 467 of the differentially expressed mRNAs (DEmRNAs) were up- or downregulated, respectively, and the DEmRNAs containing peroxidase 21 and LRR receptor-like serine/threonine-protein kinase ERECTA were enriched in terms of defense response. Meanwhile, 1,889 miRNAs were identified from infected or uninfected leaves. Nine or seven of the differentially expressed miRNAs (DEmiRNAs) were up- or downregulated, respectively. The DEmiRNAs MIR5303j-p5, MIR6173-p5, miR858-3p, and novel-miR0377-3p were predicted to bind to DEmRNAs. Fifteen DEmRNAs annotated into transcription factor proteins enriched with respect to the plant-pathogen interaction pathway were predicted to be bound by the DEmiRNA miR858-3p. The sequences and abundances of the mRNAs and miRNAs from tea leaves infected by E. nigrum, and the prediction of the interaction between DEmiRNAs and DEmRNAs could contribute to our understanding of this plant-pathogen interaction. [Figure: see text] Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.