The cyanobacterium, Nostoc punctiforme can protect against programmed cell death and induce defence genes in Arabidopsis thaliana

Cyanobacteria can form nitrogen-fixing symbioses with a broad range of plant species. Unlike other plant-bacteria symbioses, little is understood about the immunological responses induced by plant cyanobionts (symbiotic cyanobacteria). Here, we demonstrated that the model plant-symbiotic cyanobacteria, Nostoc punctiforme is capable of protecting against programmed cell death (PCD) when induced in Arabidopsis thaliana suspension cell cultures. We also profiled the early transcriptomic changes that were induced in response to conditioned medium (CM) from N. punctiforme cell cultures. Interestingly, the reduction in PCD was preceded by the induction of genes associated with defence and immunity, the most striking of which were a number of WRKY-family transcription factors. Down-regulated genes included those involved in the regulation of cell growth and differentiation. This work is the first to show that a cyanobiont can affect plant PCD and provides a useful transcriptome resource for studying early plant cell responses to symbiotic cyanobacteria.