Non-heading Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa ssp. chinensis) is one of the main green leafy vegetables in the world, especially in China, with significant economic value. Hyaloperonospora parasitica is a fungal pathogen responsible for causing downy mildew disease in Chinese cabbage, which greatly affects its production. The objective of this study was to identify transcriptionally regulated genes during incompatible interactions between non-heading Chinese cabbage and H. parasitica using complementary DNA-amplified fragment length polymorphism (cDNA-AFLP). We obtained 129 reliable differential transcript-derived fragments (TDFs) in a resistant line ‘Suzhou Qing’. Among them, 121 upregulated TDFs displayed an expression peak at 24–48 h post inoculation (h.p.i.). Fifteen genes were further selected for validation of cDNA-AFLP expression patterns using quantitative reverse transcription PCR. Results confirmed the altered expression patterns of 13 genes (86.7%) revealed by the cDNA-AFLP. We identified four TDFs related to fungal resistance among the 15 TDFs. Furthermore, comparative analysis of four TDFs between resistant line ‘Suzhou Qing’ and susceptible line ‘Aijiao Huang’ showed that transcript levels of TDF14 (BcLIK1_A01) peaked at 48 h.p.i. and 25.1-fold increased in the resistant line compared with the susceptible line. Similarly, transcript levels of the other three genes, TDF42 (BcCAT3_A07), TDF75 (BcAAE3_A06) and TDF88 (BcAMT2_A05) peaked at 24, 48 and 24 h.p.i. with 25.1-, 100- and 15.8-fold increases, respectively. The results suggested that the resistance genes tended to transcribe at higher levels in the resistance line than in the susceptible line, which may provide resistance against pathogen infections. The present study might facilitate elucidating the molecular basis of the infection process and identifying candidate genes for resistance improvement of susceptible cultivars.

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