Abstract
Root and stem rot caused by Heterobasidion annosum is a severe problem in boreal Scots pine. Dissecting the features of disease resistance is generally an essential step in resistance breeding in plants and forest trees. In this study, we explored inherent resistance factors of Scots pine against H. annosum . A total of 236 families consisting of 85 full-sib (FS), 35 half-sib population mix (HSpm), and 116 half-sib (HS) families of Scots pine seedlings were inoculated with a H. annosum isolate. We sampled needle tissues before inoculation for terpene measurements and RNA sequencing. Based on the lesion area, the extremes of 12 resistant and 12 susceptible families were selected for further analyses. Necrotic lesions resulting from fungal infection were in a weak to moderate relationship with the plant height. Monoterpenes were the principal terpene compounds observed in Scots pine seedlings. Concentrations of 3-carene were significantly higher in pine genotypes inherently resistant compared with susceptible seedlings. By contrast, susceptible genotypes had significantly higher proportions of α-pinene. Gene ontology analysis of differential expressed transcripts (DETs) revealed that response to biotic factors was enriched in resistant seedlings. Functional characterization of individual DETs revealed that higher expression of transcripts involved in response to abiotic stress was common in susceptible genotypes. This observation was supported by the annotation of hub genes in a key module that was significantly correlated with the lesion trait through weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) of 16 HS and HSpm samples. These findings contribute to our understanding of constitutive resistance factors of Scots pine against Heterobasidion root and stem rot diseases.
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Claims 7
Claim · model-written summary
Necrotic lesion area had a weak to moderate relationship with plant height.
- Taxon
- Scots pine
Pinus sylvestrise1 - Organ / stage
- plant heighte0
- Interactor
- fungal infectione0pathogen
- Outcome
- Necrotic lesionse0
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Verbatim
e0“Necrotic lesions resulting from fungal infection were in a weak to moderate relationship with the plant height”
e1“boreal Scots pine”
Claim · model-written summary
Monoterpenes were the principal terpene compounds in Scots pine seedlings.
- Taxon
- Scots pine
Pinus sylvestrise0 - Organ / stage
- seedlingse0
- Outcome
- Monoterpenes were the principal terpene compoundse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Verbatim
e0“Monoterpenes were the principal terpene compounds observed in Scots pine seedlings”
Claim · model-written summary
Resistant pine genotypes had significantly higher 3-carene concentrations than susceptible seedlings.
- Taxon
- Scots pine
Pinus sylvestrise1 - Material
- pine genotypes inherently resistante0
- Outcome
- Concentrations of 3-carenee0
- Direction
- highere0
- Comparator
- susceptible seedlingse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Verbatim
e0“Concentrations of 3-carene were significantly higher in pine genotypes inherently resistant compared with susceptible seedlings”
e1“boreal Scots pine”
Claim · model-written summary
Susceptible genotypes had significantly higher α-pinene proportions.
- Taxon
- Scots pine
Pinus sylvestrise1 - Material
- susceptible genotypese0
- Outcome
- proportions of α-pinenee0
- Direction
- highere0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Verbatim
e0“susceptible genotypes had significantly higher proportions of α-pinene”
e1“boreal Scots pine”
Claim · model-written summary
Response to biotic factors was enriched among differentially expressed transcripts in resistant seedlings.
- Taxon
- Scots pine
Pinus sylvestrise1 - Material
- resistant seedlingse0
- Outcome
- response to biotic factorse0
- Direction
- enrichede0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Verbatim
e0“response to biotic factors was enriched in resistant seedlings”
e1“boreal Scots pine”
Claim · model-written summary
Susceptible genotypes commonly had higher expression of abiotic-stress response transcripts.
- Taxon
- Scots pine
Pinus sylvestrise1 - Material
- susceptible genotypese0
- Outcome
- expression of transcripts involved in response to abiotic stresse0
- Direction
- highere0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Verbatim
e0“higher expression of transcripts involved in response to abiotic stress was common in susceptible genotypes”
e1“boreal Scots pine”
Claim · model-written summary
A gene co-expression module was significantly correlated with lesion traits.
- Taxon
- Scots pine
Pinus sylvestrise1 - Gene
- a key modulee0
- Outcome
- lesion traite0
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Verbatim
e0“a key module that was significantly correlated with the lesion trait through weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA)”
e1“boreal Scots pine”