Gene expression analysis during cassava defense response to bacterial blight disease

Cassava bacterial blight (CBB) caused by Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. manihotis (Xam) is a destructive disease in the South América and África and yield losses range between 12 and 100%. Cytochemistry and biochemistry of defense response to CBB have been well studied. However, the response of the plant to pathogen attack at the molecular and cellular level remains uncharacterized. Identification of genes associated with defense responses is one of most critical steps leading to the elucidation of disease resistance mechanisms in cassava. In this study, we identified differentially expressed genes during pathogen attack by subtractive hybridization, using the Differential Subtraction Chain method (DSC). A population of cDNA obtained from infected plants was used as ";treatment"; and a population of cDNA obtained from healthy plants was used as ";control";. 1536 clones were isolated from the resistant varieties (MBRA 685 and SG 107-35). Of these, 110 randomly selected clones were sequenced and a homology search was conducted. The sequence analysis showed that 14 cDNA clones shared homology with plant genes involved in defense responses, 70 clones were either homologous to plant genes of unknown function or showed no homology, representing new genes potentially involved in cassava defense responses. A cDNA microarray was constructed by spotting the clones identified from our subtractive libraries. Other clones potentially involved in cassava defense responses were also included. The cassava defense cDNA microarray was used to confirm the differential expression of the clones. Keywords: cassava, bacterial blight, gene expression, subtractive library, microarrays.