Abstract
BackgroundHydroponics is a plant growth system that provides a more precise control of growth media composition. Several hydroponic systems have been reported for Arabidopsis and other model plants. The ease of system set up, cost of the growth system and flexibility to characterize and harvest plant material are features continually improved in new hydroponic system reported.ResultsWe developed a hydroponic culture system for Arabidopsis and other model plants. This low cost, proficient, and novel system is based on recyclable and sterilizable plastic containers, which are readily available from local suppliers. Our system allows a large-scale manipulation of seedlings. It adapts to different growing treatments and has an extended growth window until adult plants are established. The novel seed-holder also facilitates the transfer and harvest of seedlings. Here we report the use of our hydroponic system to analyze transcriptomic responses of Arabidopsis to nutriment availability and plant/pathogen interactions.ConclusionsThe efficiency and functionality of our proposed hydroponic system is demonstrated in nutrient deficiency and pathogenesis experiments. Hydroponically grown Arabidopsis seedlings under long-time inorganic phosphate (Pi) deficiency showed typical changes in root architecture and high expression of marker genes involved in signaling and Pi recycling. Genome-wide transcriptional analysis of gene expression of Arabidopsis roots depleted of Pi by short time periods indicates that genes related to general stress are up-regulated before those specific to Pi signaling and metabolism. Our hydroponic system also proved useful for conducting pathogenesis essays, revealing early transcriptional activation of pathogenesis-related genes.
Highlights
Hydroponics is a plant growth system that provides a more precise control of growth media composition
Description of the hydroponic system We have improved a previously reported hydroponic system, consisting of a glass jar and stainless piece integrated by a wire screen fixed between two flat rings and held in place by three legs [8], by a simpler and cheaper system assembled with a PE vessel and a seed-holder integrated by a circle-shape high-density polyethylene (HDPE) mesh and two PE rings (Figure 1A,B; Table 1)
Applications of our hydroponic system: 2) Pathological assays to evaluate systemic defense responses In order to determine the suitability of our hydroponic system to perform Arabidopsis-pathogen interactions, we evaluated the systemic effect of root inoculation with Pseudomonas syringae pv tomato strain DC3000 (Pst DC3000) on transcriptional activation of the patho genesis-related gene PR1
Summary
Hydroponics is a plant growth system that provides a more precise control of growth media composition. Detailed protocols for obtaining real nutrient-deficient solid media for several macro and micronutrients have been recently reported [1,2]. These protocols describe a careful selection of gelling agents based on a previous chemical characterization that increase the cost and time to set up experiments. In addition those problems associated with media composition, plant growth window is reduced in petri plates (maximum 2–3 weeks) [3]. Additional handling and unnecessary plant stress during seedlings transfer to new growth media as well as during plant material collection should be considered when experiments on solid media are designed
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