Comparative whole transcriptome analysis in Arabidopsis accessions for acid soil tolerance

Aluminum (Al) stress on acid soil causes inhibition of plant growth. Plants have Al tolerance mechanisms associated with transcriptomic change in roots. However, the most of expressed genes involved in difference of Al-tolerance are still unknown. To identify the Al-tolerance genes in Arabidopsis accessions with varying of Al tolerance, comparative transcriptome analysis in roots was performed between six A. thaliana accessions which exhibit clear difference in Al tolerance. RNA samples were extracted from roots of 10-d-old seedlings treated with and without Al, and then were applied to RNA-Seq analysis. This study identified differentially expressed gene groups among Arabidopsis accessions. Differentially expressed genes between tolerant and sensitive accessions were also selected as the Al-tolerance candidate genes.