Global transcriptomic analysis of Arabidopsis thaliana ecotype Columbia-0 subjected to magnesium deficiency

Magnesium (Mg) is essential for many biological processes in plant cells and its deficiency causes yield reduction in crop systems. Low Mg status reportedly impacts on photosynthesis, sucrose partitioning and biomass allocation. However, earlier responses to Mg deficiency are scarcely described. Generally, symptoms of nutrient deficiency appear in specific ages of leaves. Therefore, we hypothesised that transcriptional responses to Mg deficiency are different depending on the ages of leaves, and performed a global transcriptomic analysis in two types of leaves; source and sink leaves of the model plant species Arabidopsis thaliana to reveal the earlier responses to Mg deficiency. The global transcriptomic study revealed that short-term Mg deficiency triggers the expression of defence response genes in sink leaves. In roots, although short-term Mg deficiency enhanced the Mg2+ uptake from the environmnet, transcriptional levels of genes encoding putative Mg2+ transporters in roots were unchanged, suggesting non-transcriptional regulation of Mg2+ uptake in roots. mRNA was extracted from mature (source) and expanding (sink) leaves of control and Mg-deficient Arabidopsis at days 3, 5 and 8 of Mg deprivation treatment and roots at day 3. Three to six biological replicates were selected based on the quality of RNA.