Photoperiod Stress in Arabidopsis thaliana Induces a Transcriptional Response Resembling That of Pathogen Infection

Plants are exposed to regular diurnal rhythms of light and dark. Changes in the photoperiod by the prolongation of the light period cause photoperiod stress in short day-adapted Arabidopsis thaliana. Here, we report on the transcriptional response to photoperiod stress of wild-type A. thaliana and photoperiod stress-sensitive cytokinin signaling and clock mutants and identify a core set of photoperiod stress-responsive genes. Photoperiod stress caused altered expression of numerous reactive oxygen species (ROS)-related genes. Photoperiod stress-sensitive mutants displayed similar, but stronger transcriptomic changes than wild-type plants. The alterations showed a strong overlap with those occurring in response to ozone stress, pathogen attack and flagellin peptide (flg22)-induced PAMP triggered immunity (PTI), which have in common the induction of an apoplastic oxidative burst. Interestingly, photoperiod stress triggers transcriptional changes in jasmonic acid (JA) and salicylic acid (SA) biosynthesis and signaling and results in increased JA, SA and camalexin levels. These responses are typically observed after pathogen infections. Consequently, photoperiod stress increased the resistance of Arabidopsis plants to a subsequent infection by Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000. In summary, we show that photoperiod stress causes transcriptional reprogramming resembling plant pathogen defense responses and induces systemic acquired resistance (SAR) in the absence of a pathogen.