Volatiles of two growth-inhibiting rhizobacteria commonly engage AtWRKY18 function

Interactions with the (a)biotic environment play key roles in a plant's fitness and vitality. In addition to direct surface-to-surface contact, volatile chemicals can also affect the physiology of organism. Volatiles of Serratia plymuthica and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia significantly inhibited growth and induced H(2) O(2) production in Arabidopsis in dual culture. Within 1 day, transcriptional changes were observed by promoter-GUS assays using a stress-inducible W-box-containing 4xGST1 construct. Expression studies performed at 6, 12 and 24 h revealed altered transcript levels for 889 genes and 655 genes in response to Se. plymuthica or St. maltophilia volatiles, respectively. Expression of 162 genes was altered in both treatments. Meta-analysis revealed that specifically volatile-responsive genes were significantly overlapping with those affected by abiotic stress. We use the term mVAMP (microbial volatile-associated molecular pattern) to describe these volatile-specific responses. Genes responsive to both treatments were enriched for W-box motifs in their promoters, and were significantly enriched for transcription factors (ERF2, ZAT10, MYB73 and WRKY18). The susceptibility of wrky18 mutant lines to volatiles was significantly delayed, suggesting an indispensable role for WRKY18 in bacterial volatile responses.