RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Gene expression profiling of Tea (Camellia sinensis L.) in response to biotic stress using microarrays JF bioRxiv FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory SP 2020.03.17.994806 DO 10.1101/2020.03.17.994806 A1 S. Ashokraj A1 E. Edwin Raj A1 K.N. Chandrashekara A1 R. Govindaraj A1 T. Femlin Blessia A1 B. Radhakrishnan YR 2020 UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/03/19/2020.03.17.994806.abstract AB The blister blight (BB) and grey blight (GB) diseases are the major biotic stresses, which affecting the plant health, yield and quality of tea. The study aims to understand the gene response of tea plants against destructing foliar diseases in terms of differential gene expression and their pathways through microarray analysis aid by MapMan® software. The results of expression profile analysis showed that 235 in BB and 258 for GB genes were differentially expressed (at P<0.05) which involving in gene regulatory function as biotic stress response. Similarly, 76 and 86 differentially expressed genes involving in cellular response during BB and GB diseases, respectively. However, 28 in BB and 9 in GB differentially expressed (P<0.01) genes were putatively involved in biotic stress response. The study also identified differentially expressed 75 transcription factors (TFs) belongs to 23 TFs superfamily act as either transcriptional activators or repressors. The study helps to understand the differential gene expression pattern and its cellular, molecular and biological mechanisms of tea plants of two different diseases based on microarray analysis. Further studies using biotechnological tools on the stress-responsive genes in the germplasm may enable us for development of disease resistance.