The transcriptome of Verticillium dahliae-infected Nicotiana benthamiana determined by deep RNA sequencing

Verticillium wilt disease is caused by fungi of the Verticillium genus that occur on a wide range of host plants, including Solanaceous species such as tomato and tobacco. Currently, the well characterized Ve1 gene of tomato is the only Verticillium wilt resistance gene cloned. During experiments to identify the Verticillium molecule that activates Ve1 resistance in tomato, RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) of Verticillium-infected Nicotiana benthamiana was performed. In total, over 99% of the obtained reads were derived from N. benthamiana. Here, we report the assembly and annotation of the N. benthamiana transcriptome. In total, 142,738 transcripts > 100 bp were obtained, amounting to a total transcriptome size of 38.7 Mbp, which is comparable to the Arabidopsis transcriptome. About 30,282 transcripts could be annotated based on homology to Arabidopsis genes. By assembly of the N. benthamiana transcriptome, we provide a catalogue of transcripts of a Solanaceous model plant under pathogen stress.