A nucleoside signal generated by a fungal endophyte regulates host cell death and promotes root colonization

Regulated host cell death is part of a plant defense strategy against pathogens but it is also involved in accommodating certain beneficial root microbes. We have identified extracellular metabolites and intracellular metabolic signals that contribute to beneficial root fungal endophyte colonization, and uncovered a conserved cell death mechanism likely co-opted for establishing plant-endophyte symbiosis. The response of 12-day-old Arabidopsis thaliana Col-0 seedlings was analysed 3 and 12 hours after treatment with 500 µM dAdo in 2.5 mM MES buffer pH 5.6 or MES buffer alone. Gene expression was analysed using RNAseq, pseudoaligned to the TAIR10 transcriptome.