PAW-plasma activated water-triggers plant defence responses. PAW-plasma activated water-triggers plant defence responses

Nowadays one of the main challenges is moving towards an eco-sustainable agriculture, able to preserve the food production through a reduced use of pesticides. The current global food sustenance by intensive agriculture mainly based on economic crop monocultures drastically reduces the biodiversity increasing the yield losses due to biotic and abiotic stress. To try to ensure yield stability also enhancing the plant resistance responses to promote an eco-sustainable management of plant diseases, a technology based on plasma activated water (PAW), characterized by the production of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, was tested. Differential expression levels of selected genes involved in the plant defence pathways and the microRNAs composition in PAW treated- micropropagated periwinkle shoots and grapevines were analyzed. The results indicate that PAW treatment enhances plant defence responses at both, transcriptional and post-transcriptional level, leading to an increased synthesis in periwinkle of vinblastine and vindoline, anti-oxidant compounds employed in the pharmaceutical industry and in grapevine of resveratrol that is an important compound for human health. Overall design: 6 libraries from paw treated (3 biological replicates) and water treated (control - 3 biological replicates) Catharanthus roseus