Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and carrot demonstrate contrasting responses to drought stress as revealed through a dual transcriptomic approach

To test the impacts of drought on the host and fungus, we inoculated carrots (Daucus carota cv. 'Napoli') with spores of Rhizophagus irregularis DAOM 197198. Carrots grew in a greenhouse, and at the beginning of taproot development, were exposed to a 10-day water restriction. We evaluated plant growth and physiological responses, colonization level, and plant and fungal gene expression. Overall design: There were 4 treatment groups: non-mycorrhizal control, mycorrhizal control, non-mycorrhizal drought, and mycorrhizal drought. For each group, 4 replicates were sequenced and analyzed.