Global transcriptional analysis reveals unique and shared responses in Arabidopsis thaliana exposed to combined drought and pathogen stress

With frequent fluctuations in global climate, plants often experience co-occurring dry-wet cycles and pathogen infection and this combination adversely affects plant survival. In the past, some studies indicated that morpho-physiological responses of plants to the combined stress are different from the individual stressed plants. However, interaction of drought stressed or drought recovered plants with pathogen has not been widely studied at molecular level. Such studies are important to understand the defense pathways that operate as part of combined stress tolerance mechanism. In this study, Arabidopsis plants were exposed to individual drought stress (soil drying at 40% FC, D), Pseudomonas syringae pv tomato DC3000 (PStDC3000), infection and their combination. Plants recovered from drought stress were also exposed to PStDC3000. Beside we have also infiltrated P. syringae pv tabaci (PSta, non-host pathogen) individually or in combination with drought stress. Using Affymetrix WT gene 1.0 ST array, global transcriptome profiling of plants leaves under individual drought stress and pathogen infection was compared with their combination. Results implicate that plants exposed to combined drought and pathogen stress experience a new state of stress where each combination of stressor and their timing defines the plant responses and thus should be studied explicitly.

22

Gupta A, Sarkar AK, Senthil-Kumar M