BioProject

In response to environmental stressors, plants exhibit a phenomenon known as stress memory, whereby a prior stress episode influences their subsequent responses. More...

In response to environmental stressors, plants exhibit a phenomenon known as stress memory, whereby a prior stress episode influences their subsequent responses. This suggests the existence of a molecular memory mechanism that allows plants to adapt to recurring stress events. Previous work has highlighted the contribution of the phytohormone strigolactones to drought stress and memory thereof (10.1007/s00425-015-2266-8; 10.1111/nph.14190; 10.1111/pce.13758; 10.1093/pcp/pcac058). Additionally, there are sparse indications that especially (but not only) in Solanaceous plants, they may have a significant effect on reproduction (reviewed by 10.1111/pce.14461). However, the molecular underpinnings of both phenomena have not been researched yet. This study investigated the positioning of strigolactones to the tomato flowering network, and their contribution to drought memory. Overall design: We deep-sequenced total RNA from leaves of 3-week-old wt (M82 genotype) and strigolactone-depleted plants showing 70-80% reduction of strigolactone content in root tissues and exudates (SL-; line 6936 silenced in the CCD7 biosynthetic gene, kind gift by Dr. H. J. Klee, University of Florida, ). A total of 21 samples are included in the dataset, corresponding to 7 different conditions/treatments/genotypes each coming in 3 biological replicates; each biological replicate consisted of at least 3 fully expanded leaves (one per plant) from 5 plants per condition/treatment/genotype. The 7 kinds of samples are leaves from plants under: unstressed, irrigated conditions (control samples, both wt and SL- genotype - WT_WW and CC_WW); irrigated conditions after 1 drought episode (recovery 1, both for wt and SL- genotype - WT_S1 and CC_S1); irrigated conditions after 2 drought episodes ( (recovery 2, both for wt and SL- genotype - WT_S2 and CC_S2); unstressed, irrigated conditions but treated 24 h earlier with the synthetic strigolactone analogue GR245DS (wt only - WTTR24). Less...