Support for the result from GWAS was obtained by BLASTx alignment of the RNA sequence reads for each of the 10cDNA libraries individually to contig 03321, containing the full length transcript of the candidate Mt. gene. With the exception of the individuals (1504R and DN00726S), the constitutive expression of the candidate Mt. gene was higher in the BBD resistant individuals than in the BBD susceptible individuals (Additional file 9). On average, 1602 reads mapped per BBD resistant library, and 414 reads per susceptible library, after normalization in TPM (Transcripts Per Kilobase Million). This does not imply the expression of the candidate Mt. gene alone is sufficient for BBD resistance, nor that it is the only gene differentially expressed upon attack by the insect vector.