RNA-seq analysis of transcriptome reprofiling triggered by different pattern-recognition receptor types

Plant cell surface receptors sense microbial pathogens by recognizing microbial structures called pathogen or microbe-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs/MAMPs). There are two major types of plant pattern recognition receptors: 1. Leucine-rich repeat receptor proteins (LRR-RP) and LRR receptor kinases (LRR-RK) and 2. Plant receptor proteins and receptor kinases carrying ectopic lysin motifs (LysM-RP and LysM-RK). In this study, Arabidopsis thaliana responses to three different MAMPs, flg22, nlp20, chitin (C6), via their corresponding receptor types, FLS2 (LRR-RK), RLP23 (LRR-RP), CERK1 (LysM-RK) were compared. Our RNA-seq results indicate that a core set of defense-related genes can be activated through perception of different MAMPs. However, there are also notable differences in the transcriptional changes in response to the various elicitors; flg22 causes broader transcriptome changes than nlp20 and C6, and C6 does not cause late transcriptome changes. Arabodopsis seedings were treated with water, flg22, nlp20, or C6 and collected after 1h, 6h and 24h. One sample before treatment was also collected. 4 biological repecates were performed.