Drought stress in Picea abies - Heterobasidion parviporum pathosystem

Currently, the effects of drought on tree resistance against pathogens are hypothetical, thus research is needed to identify these correlations. Norway spruce (Picea abies) is one of the most economically important tree species in Europe, and is considered highly vulnerable to changes in climate. Dedicated experiments to investigate how disturbances will affect the Heterobasidion sp. - Norway spruce pathosystem are important, in order to develop different strategies to limit the spread of H. annosum s.l. under the predicted climate change. Here, we report a RNA-seq study to compare Norway spruce gene profiles to evaluate the effects of water availability and the infection of Heterobasidion parviporum. We performed inoculation studies of three-year-old saplings in a greenhouse (purchased from a nursery). Norway spruce saplings were treated as high (+) or low (-) water groups: high water group received double the water amount than the low water group. RNA was extracted and sequenced.