Bioinformatics approach to the study of the molecular behaviour of mealybug wilt of pineapple.

Mealybug wilt of pineapple (MWP) is a disease caused by the Pineapple mealybug wilt-associated virus (PMWaV) complex transmitted by Dysmicoccus brevipes and D. neobrevipes. MWP symptoms are characterized by root dessication, leaf wilting and consequent failure to produce a fruit. The molecular mechanisms involved in the pineapple-PMWaV interaction for MWP symptomatology are still unclear. In this work, mRNAs of asymptomatic and symptomatic pineapple plants were evaluated using Illumina RNA sequencing technology. From a total of 79 million reads per sample, 16,097 genes were identified using STAR aligner and HTseq for paired-end files. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between the evaluated groups were estimated using DESeq2 and edgeR, with an FDR cutoff of ≤0.05. A total of 207 DEGs were detected, with 61 upregulated and 146 downregulated in symptomatic plants infected by PMWaV-2. The methodologies improved by the assays presented in this article and the detected DEGs can substantiate further researches with pineapple and the MWP disease.