Transcriptional profiling of ESTs responsive to Rhizobium vitis from ‘Tamnara’ grapevines (Vitis sp.)

Genes related with defense responses were screened from the cDNA library constructed with Rhizobium vitis-inoculated or salicylic acid (SA)-treated ‘Tamnara’ grapevine (Vitis sp.) leaves. Among 13,728 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from ‘Tamnara’ grapevine upon R. vitis inoculation and SA treatment, 6776 unigenes containing 1915 contigs and 4860 singletons were obtained. In gene ontology analysis, there were about 3200 clones related with biological process, 3555 with molecular function, and 3354 with cellular component genes. Proteins of secretory organ (35%), plasma membrane (30%), endoplasmic reticulum (20%), and vacuole (11%) were predicted. Photosynthesis-related genes and defense-related genes were most abundant. Among ESTs, 199 resistance-related ones were mapped to the genome of Vitis vinifera L. with three markers, GLP1–12, MHD98, and MHD145, which are known to be linked to resistance against powdery mildew. Approximately, 120 simple sequence repeats (SSRs) detected in cDNAs could be used as EST-derived SSR markers in disease resistant grape breeding.