Impact of intraspecific plant-plant competition on the transcriptome of an Arabidopsis thaliana plant

Under plant-plant competition, plants display a reduction in number of shoot branches. To elucidate gene expression patterns related to shoot branching in response to competition, we performed a transcriptomic analysis comparing plants grown individually versus those grown under intraspecific competition. Plants were selectively dissected to isolate axillary bud-enriched tissue, removing leaves, roots and most stem tissues. Bud samples were harvested at two time points, day (ZT8) and night (ZT20), across two indpendent trials with four biological replicates per treatment. This approach aimed to provide insights into transcriptional regulation associated with competitive growth conditions.