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A multi-omics approach to unravel the interaction between heat and drought stress in the Arabidopsis thaliana holobiont
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  • Steffen Kolb,
  • Biancamaria Senizza,
  • Fabrizio Araniti,
  • Simon Lewin,
  • Sonja Wende,
  • Luigi Lucini
Steffen Kolb
Leibniz-Zentrum fur Agrarlandschaftsforschung (ZALF) e V

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Biancamaria Senizza
Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore - Campus di Piacenza e Cremona
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Fabrizio Araniti
Universita degli Studi di Milano Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie e Ambientali Produzione Territorio Agroenergia
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Simon Lewin
Leibniz-Zentrum fur Agrarlandschaftsforschung (ZALF) e V
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Sonja Wende
Leibniz-Zentrum fur Agrarlandschaftsforschung (ZALF) e V
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Luigi Lucini
Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore - Campus di Piacenza e Cremona
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Abstract

The impact of combined heat and drought stress was investigated in Arabidopsis thaliana and compared to individual stresses to reveal additive effects and interactions. A combination of plant metabolomics and root and rhizosphere bacterial metabarcoding were used to unravel effects at the plant holobiont level. Hierarchical cluster analysis of metabolomics signatures pointed out two main clusters, one including heat and combined heat and drought, and the second cluster that included the control and drought treatments. Overall, phenylpropanoids and nitrogen-containing compounds, hormones and amino acids showed the highest discriminant potential. A decrease in alpha diversity was observed upon stress, with stress-dependent differences in bacterial microbiota composition. The shift in beta-diversity highlighted the pivotal enrichment of Proteobacteria, including Rhizobiales, Enterobacteriales and Azospirillales. The results corroborate the concept of stress interaction, where the combined heat and drought stress is not the mere combination of the single stresses. Intriguingly, multi-omics interpretations evidenced a good correlation between root metabolomics and root bacterial microbiota, indicating an orchestrated modulation of the whole holobiont.