Transcriptome analyses of Ditylenchus destructor in responses to cold and desiccation stress

The objective of this study was to identify molecular responses in Ditylenchus destructor to cold and desiccation by means of transcriptomes analyses. A total of 102,517 unigenes were obtained, with an average length of 1,076 bp, in which 58,453 (57%) had a functional annotation. A total of 1154 simple sequence repeats (SSRs) distributed over 1078 unigenes were detected. Gene expression profiles in response to cold and desiccation stress and the expression of specific stress-related genes were compared. Gene ontology analysis and pathway-based analysis were used to further investigate the functions of the differentially expressed genes. The reliability of the sequencing data was verified through quantitative real-time PCR analysis of 19 stress-related genes. RNA interference used to further assess the functions of the cold-related unigenes 15628 and 15596 showed that the knockdown of each of these genes led to decreased cold tolerance of D. destructor. Hence, this study revealed molecular processes and pathways active in cold- or dessication-treated nematodes. The transcriptome profiles presented in this study provide insight into the transcriptome complexity and will contribute to further understand stress tolerance in D. destructor.