The luh-4 mutant has a differential transcriptional program in response to Al stress

To investigate how LUH regulates Al binding to cell-wall and thus inhibition of root growth under Al stress, a transcriptional analysis through RNAseq was performed by comparing the luh-4 mutant and WT plants in the presence or absence of Al. In WT plants, 316 and 336 genes, respectively, were up- and down-regulated at least 2-fold, while in luh-4, 239 and 305 genes, respectively, were up- and down-regulated at least 2-fold by Al stress. By comparison with WT seedlings, we found that 103 and 38 genes, respectively, were up- and down-regulated at least 2-fold in the non-stressed luh-4 mutant, while 77 and 33 genes, respectively, were up- and down-regulated at least 2-fold in Al-subjected luh-4 roots. Overall design: Total RNA obtained from control (non-treated roots) and Al-exposed roots. Six day old plants were treated with and without Al treatment for 4 h, then total RNA was isolated using the RNeasy® Plant Mini Kit (QIAGEN), and then Illumina sequencing was performed.