Salinity is a serious challenge to global agriculture and threatens human food security. Plant cells can respond to salt stress either by activation of adaptive responses, or by programmed cell death. The mechanisms deciding the respective response are far from understood, but seem to depend on the degree, to which mitochondria can maintain oxidative homeostasis. Using plant PeptoQ, a Trojan Peptoid, as vehicle, it is possible to transport a coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) derivative into plant mitochondria. We show that salinity stress in tobacco BY-2 cells (Nicotiana tabacum L. cv Bright Yellow-2) can be mitigated by pretreatment with plant PeptoQ with respect to numerous aspects including proliferation, expansion, redox homeostasis, and programmed cell death. We tested the salinity response for transcripts from nine salt-stress related-genes representing different adaptive responses. While most did not show any significant response, the salt response of the transcription factor NtNAC, probably involved in mitochondrial retrograde signaling, was significantly modulated by the plant PeptoQ. Most strikingly, transcripts for the mitochondrial, Mn-dependent Superoxide Dismutase were rapidly and drastically upregulated in presence of the peptoid, and this response was disappearing in presence of salt. The same pattern, albeit at lower amplitude, was seen for the sodium exporter SOS1. The findings are discussed by a model, where plant PeptoQ modulates retrograde signalling to the nucleus leading to a strong expression of mitochondrial SOD, what renders mitochondria more resilient to perturbations of oxidative balance, such that cells escape salt induced cell death and remain viable.

Background: The plant phyllosphere is a well-studied habitat characterized by low nutrient availability and high community dynamics. In contrast, plant trichomes, known for their production of a large number of metabolites, are a yet unexplored habitat for microbes. We analyzed the phyllosphere as well as trichomes of two tomato genotypes (Solanum lycopersicum LA4024, S. habrochaites LA1777) by targeting bacterial 16S rRNA gene fragments. Results: Leaves, leaves without trichomes, and trichomes alone harbored similar abundances of bacteria (108–109 16S rRNA gene copy numbers per gram of sample). In contrast, bacterial diversity was found significantly increased in trichome samples (Shannon index: 4.4 vs. 2.5). Moreover, the community composition was significantly different when assessed with beta diversity analysis and corresponding statistical tests. At the bacterial class level, Alphaproteobacteria (23.6%) were significantly increased, whereas Bacilli (8.6%) were decreased in trichomes. The bacterial family Sphingomonadacea (8.4%) was identified as the most prominent, trichome-specific feature; Burkholderiaceae and Actinobacteriaceae showed similar patterns. Moreover, Sphingomonas was identified as a central element in the core microbiome of trichome samples, while distinct low-abundant bacterial families including Hymenobacteraceae and Alicyclobacillaceae were exclusively found in trichome samples. Niche preferences were statistically significant for both genotypes and genotype-specific enrichments were further observed. Conclusion: Our results provide first evidence of a highly specific trichome microbiome in tomato and show the importance of micro-niches for the structure of bacterial communities on leaves. These findings provide further clues for breeding, plant pathology and protection as well as so far unexplored natural pathogen defense strategies.

Nowadays, applying bio-organic fertilizer (e.g., chitosan, Ch) or integrating beneficial microorganisms (e.g., arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, AMF) are among the successful strategies to promote plant growth. Here, the effect of two application modes of Ch (foliar spray or root treatment) and Ch-derived nanoparticles (NPs) on tomato plants colonized with the AMF Rhizophagus irregularis were analyzed, thereby focusing on plant biomass, flowering and mycorrhization. An increase of shoot biomass and flower number was observed in arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) plants sprayed with Ch. The interaction with AMF, however, was reduced as shown by decreased mycorrhization rates and AM-specific gene expression. To get insights into Ch effect on mycorrhization, levels of sugars, jasmonates, abscisic acid, and the expression of two chitinase-encoding genes were determined in mycorrhizal roots. Ch had no effect on sugar and phytohormone levels, but the reduced mycorrhization was correlated with down- and upregulated expression of Chi3 and Chi9, respectively. In contrast, application of NPs to leaves and Ch applied to the soil did not show any effect, neither on mycorrhization rate nor on growth of mycorrhizal plants. Concluding, Ch application to leaves enhanced plant growth and flowering and reduced interaction with AMF, whereas root treatment did not affect these parameters.

The complexity of the obligate symbiotic interaction of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi and their host roots requires sophisticated molecular methods. In particular, to capture the dynamic of the interaction, cell-specific methods for gene expression analysis are required. In situ hybridization is a technique that allows to determine the location of transcript accumulation within tissues, being of special interest for these fungi that cannot be genetically modified. The method requires proper fixation and embedding methods as well as specific probes for the hybridization allowing detection of specific transcripts. In this chapter, we present a method to prepare roots, which have established a symbiosis with an arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus for the detection of fungal transcripts. This includes chemical fixation, subsequent embedding in a suitable medium, sectioning and pretreatment of sections, the hybridization procedure itself, as well as the immunological detection of RNA-RNA hybrids.

Industrialized tomato production faces a decrease in flavors and nutritional value due to conventional breeding. Moreover, tomato production heavily relies on nitrogen and phosphate fertilization. Phosphate uptake and improvement of fruit quality by arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are well-studied. We addressed the question of whether commercially used tomato cultivars grown in a hydroponic system can be mycorrhizal, leading to improved fruit quality. Tomato plants inoculated with Rhizophagus irregularis were grown under different phosphate concentrations and in substrates used in industrial tomato production. Changes in fruit gene expression and metabolite levels were checked by RNAseq and metabolite determination, respectively. The tests revealed that reduction of phosphate to 80% and use of mixed substrate allow AM establishment without affecting yield. By comparing green fruits from non-mycorrhizal and mycorrhizal plants, differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were found to possibly be involved in processes regulating fruit maturation and nutrition. Red fruits from mycorrhizal plants showed a trend of higher BRIX values and increased levels of carotenoids in comparison to those from non-mycorrhizal plants. Free amino acids exhibited up to four times higher levels in red fruits due to AM, showing the potential of mycorrhization to increase the nutritional value of tomatoes in industrialized production.

Plants have the ability to alleviate the harmful effects caused by abiotic and biotic stress. Phytohormones play a very important role in the acclimation to these stresses. To study the role of jasmonate in the acclimation to osmotic stress, an ALLENE OXIDE CYCLASE (AOC) mutant of rice (cpm2), disrupted in the biosynthesis of jasmonic acid (JA), and its wild type (WT) background were employed to investigate their responses to osmotic stress caused by treatment with polyethylene glycol (PEG) 6000. WT showed tolerance to osmotic stress, correlated with a fast transient increase of JA and JA-isoleucine (JA-Ile) in the shoots prior to an increase in abscisic acid (ABA), followed by a second increase in jasmonates when exposing to osmotic stress during 24 h. In roots, the pattern of hormonal increase was similar, but the response appeared to be faster, and remained transient, also with respect to low levels of jasmonates upon continuing osmotic stress. The mutant, which was containing extremely low levels of jasmonates, was hypersensitive to the stress. However, ABA accumulated in both, shoots and roots of cpm2, to similar (but not equal) levels as those seen in the WT, demonstrating that the biosynthesis or catabolism of ABA in response to osmotic stress is at least partially independent of JA, but can be modulated by JA. Our results suggest that jasmonates operate in parallel, presumably synergistically, to ABA, and are indispensable for osmotic stress tolerance in rice.