Abstract
Studying plant stress responses is an important issue in a world threatened by global warming. Unfortunately, comparative analyses are hampered by varying experimental setups. In contrast, the AtGenExpress abiotic stress experiment displays intercomparability. Importantly, six of the nine stresses (wounding, genotoxic, oxidative, UV-B light, osmotic and salt) can be examined for their capacity to generate systemic signals between the shoot and root, which might be essential to regain homeostasis in Arabidopsis thaliana. We classified the systemic responses into two groups: genes that are regulated in the non-treated tissue only are defined as type I responsive and, accordingly, genes that react in both tissues are termed type II responsive. Analysis of type I and II systemic responses suggest distinct functionalities, but also significant overlap between different stresses. Comparison with salicylic acid (SA) and methyl-jasmonate (MeJA) responsive genes implies that MeJA is involved in the systemic stress response. Certain genes are predominantly responding in only one of the categories, e.g., WRKY genes respond mainly non-systemically. Instead, genes of the plant core environmental stress response (PCESR), e.g., ZAT10, ZAT12, ERD9 or MES9, are part of different response types. Moreover, several PCESR genes switch between the categories in a stress-specific manner.
Highlights
Plants follow a sessile lifestyle and, display a wide ecological plasticity that allows them to adapt to environmental changes by modulating their physiology, growth and development
The analysis of the AtGenExpress abiotic stress experiment disclosed a plethora of gene expression responses in those tissues that were not directly exposed to the stress treatment [4,34]
We divided the systemic responses into two categories
Summary
Plants follow a sessile lifestyle and, display a wide ecological plasticity that allows them to adapt to environmental changes by modulating their physiology, growth and development. Some cells and organs act partly autonomous upon external stimuli, adaptive processes require extensive local and systemic coordination, e.g., during biotic or abiotic stress responses [1,2,3,4,5]. The information has to be communicated to the rest of the organism by the generation and spread of systemic signals. Systemic signaling employs various kinds of molecules and is not restricted to stress notification alone. Hormones, such as auxin or strigolactones, are transported from the place of synthesis through the plant to function systemically [6]. SiRNA molecules and possibly ssRNA transmit systemic information and synchronize plant development [7,8,9]. Some peptides and proteins constitute mobile signals, such as FT, which is required for flower induction, or TMO7, which is involved in embryonic root specification [10,11,12]
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