Transcriptomics and Antioxidant Analysis of Two Chinese Chestnut ( BL.) Varieties Provides New Insights Into the Mechanisms of Resistance to Gall Wasp Infestation.

Chinese chestnut is a popular fruit tree with a high nutritional value of its nuts, which can suffer from infestation by the chestnut gall wasp (GWDK) that results in gall formation and resultant loss of production and profitability. The physiological and molecular mechanisms of GWDK resistance found in certain genotypes currently remains elusive. To gain new insights into this phenomenon, a series of RNA-Seq integrated with metabolomic profiling experiments were executed to investigate the chemical and transcriptional differences in response to GWDK infestation in two contrasting chestnut varieties grown in China (the susceptible "HongLi," HL and the partially resistant "Shuhe_Wuyingli," SW).