Gene expression changes in tomato during symptom development in response to leaf curl virus infection

During stress conditions, plant gene expression changes to cope up with the altered environment. The reprogramming of gene expression during viral infections is to be accounted towards host adaptation to the invading virus by developing defense mechanism. As a consequence of restructured gene expression, plant’s physiology gets affected and is evident in the form of symptoms. In the present study, Tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus (ToLCNDV) has been used as model system for the study of altered expression of genes in tomato during symptom development using microarray. Gene expression profiles were monitored in leaf tissues during symptom development in Solanum lycopersicum. To explore the differential expression analysis, tomato cDNA gene chip arrays have been used with 26,173 protein-coding genes. A total of 920 differentially expressed genes in response to ToLCNDV were identified in tomato. KEGG pathway analysis of these genes categorizes 652 differentially expressed genes into 77 known pathways, mostly related to increasing respiration rate, decreasing rate of photosynthesis, accumulation of soluble sugars/starch and results in elevated levels of amino acid synthesis. The possible role of these changes in altering host physiology, developed in the form of symptoms has been discussed.