Gene expression response in sulfur-starved pine seedlings subjected to a sulfate pulse

This study analyzed changes in gene expression in the organs (needles, cotyledons, stem, and roots) of maritime pine seedlings 24 hours after being watered with 0.5 mM potassium sulfate. Seedlings one month after germination were watered for three months with 0.3 mM KNO3 once a week to induce sulfur starvation. Control seedlings were watered with 1 mM KCl. This work was funded by the Spanish Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI), grant number PID2024-156791NB-I00. Overall design: One month after germination, the seedlings were watered for three months with 0.3 mM KNO3 once a week to induce sulfur deficiency. The pine seedlings were then divided into two groups. The first control group (C) was watered with 1 mM KCl, while the second experimental group (S) was watered with 0.5 mM K2SO4. Twenty-four hours after watering, samples were taken from four organs: needles, cotyledons, stems, and roots. Each of these was immediately frozen in liquid nitrogen. Three biological replicates were obtained by grouping samples from 13-14 seedlings. Total RNA was isolated from the samples. The 24 samples were sequenced on an Illumina NovaSeq 6000 as paired reads of 150 bp in length.