Seed endophytic bacterium induces a priming-like drought transcriptomic state in an invasive plant prior to stress exposure

This may be particularly important for invasive plants, whose establishment in novel habitats often depends on tolerance to abiotic stress. Here, we examined whether the seed endophytic bacterium Erwinia tasmaniensis YJ6 induces priming-like drought-associated gene expression in the invasive plant Lactuca serriola.

We compared the growth and root transcriptomes of uninfected and YJ6-infected plants grown under benign and drought conditions. YJ6-infected plants maintained shoot dry weight, root dry weight, and relative leaf growth under drought at levels comparable to those under benign water conditions, whereas these traits decreased in uninfected plants. Under benign water conditions, YJ6 infection induced 1,114 differentially expressed genes, including 317 genes that overlapped with drought-responsive genes in uninfected plants.