RNA-Seq for Plant Pathogenic Bacteria

The throughput and single-base resolution of RNA-Sequencing (RNA-Seq) have contributed to a dramatic change in transcriptomic-based inquiries and resulted in many new insights into the complexities of bacterial transcriptomes. RNA-Seq could contribute to similar advances in our understanding of plant pathogenic bacteria but it is still a technology under development with limitations and unknowns that need to be considered. Here, we review some new developments for RNA-Seq and highlight recent findings for host-associated bacteria. We also discuss the technical and statistical challenges in the practical application of RNA-Seq for studying bacterial transcriptomes and describe some of the currently available solutions.