Metabolic and transcriptomic responses of leaves from European potato reference cultivars with differential tolerance to long-term drought

Systems responses of mature leaves from 4 reference cultivars of a larger collection of European potato cultivars (Solanum tuberosum L.) are investigated by metabolome profiling and RNA-Sequencing. The chosen reference cultivars, Milva, Alegria, Desiree, and Saturna, vary in ascending order in regard to drought tolerance. Systems analyses are based on 3 independent field trials and 3 paralleled greenhouse trials. Robust responses across all cultivars and conditions to natural seasonal drought stress comprise proline, raffinose, galactinol, arabitol, arabinonic acid, chlorogenic acid, and 102 transcripts which consist to a high proportion of heat shock proteins and genes with signaling or regulatory functions, such as a homolog of abscisic acid receptor PYL4. Constitutive differences of the tolerant cultivars, Desiree and Saturna, compared to the sensitive cultivars include arbutin (hydroquinone-ß-D-glucopyranoside), octopamine (p-hydroxyphenylethanolamine), ribitol and 248 differential transcripts. Many of these transcripts are disease related, receptor kinases, or regulatory genes, for example a homolog of the Arabidopsis FOUR LIPS MYB-regulator of stomatal cell proliferation. Functional enrichment analyses imply that heat stress is a major acclimation component of potato leaves to agronomical relevant drought stress. Enhanced leaf heat stress is a result of drought caused by loss of transpiration cooling. This effect and CO2-limitation are the main dilemmas of drought- or ABA-induced stomatal closure. Constitutive differences between tolerant and sensitive cultivars indicate partially synergistic interactions of drought and biotic stress responses. We suggest that drought tolerance of the potato reference cultivars may be caused by general resistance mechanisms which are part of previously selected pathogen tolerance. Overall design: Transcriptome profiling by RNA-sequencing of 48 leaf samples from 4 potato cultivars grown under control or drought stress conditions in 6 independent experiments

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Sprenger H, Kurowsky C, Horn R, Erban A, Seddig S, Rudack K, Fischer A, Walther D, Zuther E, Köhl K, Hincha DK, Kopka J