ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Pathogen Interactions
Integrated Transcriptome and Metabolome Analysis Reveals the Molecular Mechanism Underlying Differences in Psa Resistance Between Actinidia valvata and Actinidia chinensis
Provisionally accepted
- Guangxi Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Guilin, China
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Kiwifruit has high economic value, but is susceptible to bacterial canker disease caused by Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae (Psa). To dissect the resistance mechanisms, we performed an integrated transcriptomic and metabolomic analysis of a resistant species, Actinidia valvata, and a susceptible cultivar, A. chinensis 'Hongyang' (HY), following Psa infection. After Psa inoculation, a total of 1781 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified collectively in HY and A. valvata, which were mainly annotated to 20 pathways, including plant-pathogen interaction, MAPK signaling pathway, and plant hormone signal transduction. Besides, 964 differentially accumulated metabolites (DAMs) were detected collectively in the two varieties, with 369 up-regulated and 595 down-regulated metabolites showing significant changes post-infection. Notably, flavonoids, phenolic acids, amino acids and alkaloids were the dominant DAMs, with A. valvata specifically accumulating key lignin-related metabolites (L-phenylalanine), while HY exhibited a net downregulation of most metabolites. DEGs and DAMs were co-enriched to 25 metabolic pathways, among which biosynthesis of various plant secondary metabolites was prominent. Key genes in the phenylpropanoid biosynthesis pathway were identified, genes related to lignin synthesis, including cinnamoyl-CoA reductase (CCR), cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD), and Peroxidase (POD), were significantly up-regulated in A. valvata, and their high expression levels correlated with reduced accumulation of lignin intermediates and elevated production of mature lignin polymers in A. valvata. This indicates that A. valvata likely contributes to enhanced lignin synthesis to defend against Psa infection, compared with HY. The results may elucidate the metabolic networks and molecular mechanisms of kiwifruit in response to bacterial canker disease.
Keywords: integrated transcriptome-metabolome, Kiwifruit, Lignin biosynthesis, Plant resistance, Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae
Received: 14 Oct 2025; Accepted: 31 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Zhu, Gao, Liu, Xia, Ye, Qi, Li and Faming. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Wang Faming
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