Effects of combined drought and pathogen stress on growth, resistance and gene expression in young Norway spruce trees

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F62156489%3A43410%2F23%3A43923740" target="_blank" >RIV/62156489:43410/23:43923740 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/treephys/tpad062" target="_blank" >https://doi.org/10.1093/treephys/tpad062</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/treephys/tpad062" target="_blank" >10.1093/treephys/tpad062</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Effects of combined drought and pathogen stress on growth, resistance and gene expression in young Norway spruce trees

Original language description

Drought-induced mortality is a major direct effect of climate change on tree health, but drought can also affect trees indirectly by altering their susceptibility to pathogens. Here, we report how a combination of mild or severe drought and pathogen infection affected the growth, pathogen resistance and gene expression in potted 5-year-old Norway spruce trees [Picea abies (L.) Karst.]. After 5 weeks of drought, trees were inoculated with the fungal pathogen Endoconidiophora polonica. Combined drought-pathogen stress over the next 8 weeks led to significant reductions in the growth of drought-treated trees relative to well-watered trees and more so in trees subjected to severe drought. Belowground, growth of the smallest fine roots was most affected. Aboveground, shoot diameter change was most sensitive to the combined stress, followed by shoot length growth and twig biomass. Both drought-related and some resistance-related genes were upregulated in bark samples collected after 5 weeks of drought (but before pathogen infection), and gene expression levels scaled with the intensity of drought stress. Trees subjected to severe drought were much more susceptible to pathogen infection than well-watered trees or trees subjected to mild drought. Overall, our results show that mild drought stress may increase the tree resistance to pathogen infection by upregulating resistance-related genes. Severe drought stress, on the other hand, decreased tree resistance. Because drought episodes are expected to become more frequent with climate change, combined effects of drought and pathogen stress should be studied in more detail to understand how these stressors interactively influence tree susceptibility to pests and pathogens.

Czech name

—

Czech description

—

Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

—

OECD FORD branch

10611 - Plant sciences, botany

Project

<a href="/en/project/LTT20017" target="_blank" >LTT20017: Participation of the Czech Republic in the network of experiments TreeDivNet</a><br>

Continuities

P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)

Publication year

2023

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Tree Physiology

ISSN

0829-318X

e-ISSN

1758-4469

Volume of the periodical

43

Issue of the periodical within the volume

9

Country of publishing house

GB - UNITED KINGDOM

Number of pages

16

Pages from-to

1603-1618

UT code for WoS article

001009611900001

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85167893118