Transcriptional responses of Solanum lycopersicum to three distinct parasites reveal host hubs and networks underlying parasitic successes
Authors: Truch, J., Jaouannet, M., Da Rocha, M., Kulhanek-Fontanille, E., Van Ghelder, C., Rancurel, C., Migliore, O., Pere, A., Jaubert, S., Coustau, C., Galiana, E., Favery, B.
The study used transcriptomic profiling to compare tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) responses to three evolutionarily distant pathogens—nematodes, aphids, and oomycetes—during compatible interactions, identifying differentially expressed genes and key host hubs. Integrating public datasets and performing co‑expression and GO enrichment analyses, the authors mapped shared dysregulation clusters and employed Arabidopsis interactome data to place tomato candidates within broader networks, highlighting potential targets for multi‑pathogen resistance.
The authors used a bottom‑up thermodynamic modelling framework to investigate how plants decode calcium signals, starting from Ca2+ binding to EF‑hand proteins and extending to higher‑order decoding modules. They identified six universal Ca2+-decoding modules that can explain variations in calcium sensitivity among kinases and provide a theoretical basis for interpreting calcium signal amplitude and frequency in plant cells.
CLPC2 plays specific roles in CLP complex-mediated regulation of growth, photosynthesis, embryogenesis and response to growth-promoting microbial compounds
Authors: Leal-Lopez, J., Bahaji, A., De Diego, N., Tarkowski, P., Baroja-Fernandez, E., Munoz, F. J., Almagro, G., Perez, C. E., Bastidas-Parrado, L. A., Loperfido, D., Caporalli, E., Ezquer, I., Lopez-Serrano, L., Ferez-Gomez, A., Coca-Ruiz, V., Pulido, P., Morcillo, R. J. L., Pozueta-Romero, J.
The study demonstrates that the plastid chaperone CLPC2, but not its paralogue CLPC1, is essential for Arabidopsis responsiveness to microbial volatile compounds and for normal seed and seedling development. Loss of CLPC2 alters the chloroplast proteome, affecting proteins linked to growth, photosynthesis, and embryogenesis, while overexpression of CLPC2 mimics CLPC1 deficiency, highlighting distinct functional roles within the CLP protease complex.
The study investigates how cortical microtubule orientations are coordinated across tissues, testing the hypothesis that they sense mechanical stress. By quantifying microtubule behavior on different cell faces and edges, the authors find that tissue-level biases arise from cell‑geometric factors and edge‑specific mechanisms rather than direct stress sensing, and they develop a combinatorial model incorporating face‑specific and edge‑specific microtubule dynamics to explain the observed coordination.
The study isolated the Plant Cysteine Oxidase/Ethylene Response Factor VII oxygen‑sensing circuit from Arabidopsis thaliana and reconstituted it in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, using a reporter to compare hypoxia‑induced transcriptional dynamics in yeast and plants. Both systems showed rapid ERFVII stabilization, but plants exhibited a larger response, which could be enhanced in yeast by adding a hypoxia‑inducible feedback loop. Computational modeling identified promoter competition and hypoxia‑inducible PCOs as key determinants of early hypoxia responses.
The study investigates the altered timing of the core circadian oscillator gene ELF3 in wheat compared to Arabidopsis, revealing that dawn-specific expression in wheat arises from repression by TOC1. An optimized computational model integrating experimental expression data and promoter architecture predicts that wheat’s circadian oscillator remains robust despite this shift, indicating flexibility in plant circadian network design.