Charting the Onset of Drought Recovery in Arabidopsis [snRNA-Seq]

ABSTRACT: Rain-fed plants are subjected to cycles of drought and re-watering. Thus, efficient recovery from drought may be among the key determinants in the success of these plants, yet the mechanisms by which plant recover from drought have been historically understudied. To parse out the specific molecular processes leading to stress recovery, we performed a fine-scale time course of bulk RNA sequencing starting just 15 minutes after rehydration. We revealed that transcriptional drought recovery is an active and rapid process involving activating thousands of recovery-specific genes. To map the immediate recovery responses in diverse leaf-cell-types, we performed a single-nucleus transcriptome analysis of the onset of recovery from long-term moderate drought. Here we show the formation of unique cell states initiated rapidly following plant rehydration. We reveal the activation of a microbial-autonomic induction of the immune system and demonstrate that the onset of recovery leads to increased resistance against pathogens in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), wild tomato (Solanum pennellii) and domesticated tomato (Solanum lycopersicum cv. M82). Our findings uncover that the preventive immune activation was preserved despite extensive selection during tomato domestication. Since rehydration increases microbial proliferation and, thus, the risk for infection, pre-activating immunity may be crucial for plants survival in natural environments. This work lays the foundation for unraveling the complexed processes actively facilitating stress recovery within plant leaves.

ORGANISM(S): Arabidopsis

PROVIDER: GSE220277 | GEO | 2025/07/23

REPOSITORIES: GEO