Priming resistance of tomato to Botrytis cinerea infection by root drench treatment with beta-aminobutyric acid.

Induced resistance responses of plants to biotic stress can be enhanced by prior treatment by chemical priming agents such as beta-aminobutyric acid (BABA). Defence-related genes are typically not expressed following priming, but show faster and/or stronger induced expression following infection. Here we test the transcriptome responses of control and BABA-primed plants to infection with the fungal pathogen Botrytis cinerea. Tomato leaves from control and primed plants were either mock inoculated or inolculated with Botrytis spores. Leaves were harvested immediately (time zero) and at 6, 9 and 12 hours following inoculation.