Global transcriptome of Arabidopsis plants (Col-0, Rld2 and Shahdara genotypes) inoculated by the fungal pathogen Sclerotinia sclerotiorum following temperate, mediterranean and continental acclimation

The short-term, reversible process that allows plants to cope with immediate environmental fluctuations is often referred to as acclimation. Plant acclimation help maintain the balance of natural systems, supporting biodiversity and the services that ecosystems provide, such as carbon sequestration and water regulation. With climate change modifying the distribution area of plants and causing more frequent and severe weather events, knowledge of how plants acclimate can inform strategies to manage ecosystems and agriculture. Analyses of plant immune responses under abiotic constraints generally focus on pathogen inoculation under prolonged and stable abiotic conditions. Daily fluctuations of the environment may alter plant metabolism, growth and flowering as well as gene regulation and invasive growth of fungal pathogens. Yet, how plant immunity acclimates to daily temperature fluctuations remains largely unexplored. To study the molecular bases of quantitative disease resistance acclimation, we performed a global transcriptome analysis of Arabidopsis thaliana accessions Col-0, Rld-2 and Sha grown in temperate, continental and Mediterranean climates, followed or not by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum inoculation. Periphery of S. sclerotiorum disease lesions collected 24 hours post-inoculation on detached leaves of A. thaliana Col-0, Rld2 and Shahdara. Plants were previously acclimated under three different day/night temperature regimes. Mock inoculated plants acclimated at the same time serve as controls. Samples were collected in three independent replicates of the experiment.