Identification of genes associated with phytoplasma resistance through suppressive subtraction hybridization in Chinese jujube

•A SSH library of ‘Xingguang’ was constructed under JWB phytoplasma stress.•Many JWB resistance-related genes were identified.•Five selected genes were responsive to phytoplasma infection.•We deduce a hypothesis of the resistance to phytoplasma in ‘Xingguang’.

Jujube witches' broom (JWB) is a destructive disease for Chinese jujube caused by phytoplasma. A suppression subtractive hybridization library of resistant cultivar ‘Xingguang’ was constructed under phytoplasma stress to identify genes related to JWB resistance. 77 of 200 unique expressed sequence tags had significant sequence homologies and were classified into 10 functional groups. The most abundant group was disease/defense (20.8%), which was consistent with the phytoplasma stress. These differentially expressed genes provide the groundwork for addressing the plant–phytoplasma interaction. Meanwhile, the expression of five selected genes (TLP, PR10, HSP70, ERF, kinase-related protein) was confirmed to upregulate at different infection periods.