Combination of transcriptomic, proteomic and degradomic profiling reveals common and distinct patterns of pathogen-induced cell death in maize

Abstract

Regulated cell death (RCD) is crucial for plant development, as well as in decision-making in plant-microbe interactions. Previous studies revealed components of the molecular network controlling RCD, including different proteases. However, the identity, the proteolytic network as well as molecular components involved in the initiation and execution of distinct plant RCD processes, still remain largely elusive. In this study, we analyzed the transcriptome, proteome and N-terminome of Z. mays leaves treated with the Xanthomonas effector avrRxo1, the mycotoxin Fumonisin B1 (FB1), or the phytohormone salicylic acid (SA) to dissect plant cellular processes related to cell death and plant immunity. We found highly distinct and time-dependent biological processes being activated on transcriptional and proteome levels in response to avrRxo1, FB1 and SA. A correlation analysis of the transcriptome and proteome identified general, as well as trigger-specific markers for cell death in Z. mays. We found that proteases, particularly papain-like cysteine proteases, are specifically regulated during RCD. Collectivley, this study characterizes distinct RCD responses in Z. mays and provides a framework for the mechanistic exploration of components involved in the initiation and execution of cell death.

Roadmap for the next decade of plant programmed cell death research

“…In Arabidopsis thaliana (hereafter referred to as Arabidopsis), transcriptomic assays have revealed spatiotemporal differences in genes and biological processes regulated in the cells undergoing HR and in the surrounding living tissue, and have consequently defined robust transcriptional in vivo cell death markers (Salguero‐Linares et al ., 2022). Similarly in maize, a combination of transcriptomic, proteomic, and degradomic analyses of dying cells identified time‐dependent gene reprogramming and has defined general‐ and trigger‐specific cell death markers (Barghahn et al ., 2023). These data underpinned the basis for the mechanistic exploration of new molecular functions involved in life and death decisions, as well as the initiation and execution of cell death.…”