Transcriptomic profiling of Brassica napus responses to Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic bacterial pathogen of plants. Unlike the well-characterized plant defense responses to highly adapted bacterial phytopathogens, little is known about plant response to P. aeruginosa infection. In this study, we examined the Brassica napus (canola) tissue-specific response to P. aeruginosa infection using RNA sequencing. Transcriptomic analysis of canola seedlings over a 5 day P. aeruginosa infection revealed that many molecular processes involved in plant innate immunity were up-regulated, whereas photosynthesis was down-regulated. Phytohormones control many vital biological processes within plants, including growth and development, senescence, seed setting, fruit ripening, and innate immunity. The three main phytohormones involved in plant innate immunity are salicylic acid (SA), jasmonic acid (JA), and ethylene (ET). Many bacterial pathogens have evolved multiple strategies to manipulate these hormone responses in order to infect plants successfully. Interestingly, gene expression within all three phytohormone (SA, JA, and ET) signaling pathways was up-regulated in response to P. aeruginosa infection. This study identified a unique plant hormone response to the opportunistic bacterial pathogen P. aeruginosa infection.