Arabidopsis germination and two week growth on ionic vs osmotic stress

Arabidopsis Col-0 seeds were germinated and grown for two weeks on Arabidopsis thaliana salt media (ATS, control) or ATS media supplemented 50, 75, 100 or 125 mM NaCl that imposes both an ionic and osmotic stress; or ATS media supplemented with iso-osmolar concentrations of sorbitol (100, 150, 200 or 250 mM) that imposes only an osmotic stress. The aim of the study was to identify genes involved in plant growth and adaptation to ionic stress compared to genes involved in growth and adaptation to osmotic stress conditions. To do this we identified lists of genes that are differentially expressed in plants grown in NaCl (A) and lists of genes differentially expressed in plants grown in sorbitol (B). We then compared these lists to find ionic/salt-specific genes that are only expressed in plants grown in NaCl and not in plants grown in sorbitol; and osmotic genes that are expressed both in plants grown in NaCl and in plants grown in sorbitol. Associated publication: Cackett et al. (2022) Salt-specific gene expression reveals elevated auxin levels in Arabidopsis thaliana plants grown under saline conditions, DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2022.804716 27 samples including 3 replicates x 9 different treatment conditions. Controls were Arabidopsis thaliana Col-0 plants grown on ATS media. Treatments were plants grown on ATS media supplemented with 50 mM NaCl, 75 mM NaCl, 100 mM NaCl, 125 mM NaCl, 100 mM sorbitol, 150 mM sorbitol, 200 mM sorbitol or 250 mM sorbitol