Cold plasma-induced transcriptomic reprogramming and alternative splicing in tomato plants infected with ToBRFV

Area of Science:

• Plant Pathology
• Molecular Biology
• Plasma Technology

Background:

• Viral infections pose a significant threat to crop yields.
• Plant immune responses involve complex molecular mechanisms, including gene expression and alternative splicing.
• Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) is an emerging technology with potential applications in agriculture.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effects of cold air glow discharge plasma (CAGDP) on alternative splicing (AS) and gene expression in tomato seedlings infected with Tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV).
• To elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying CAGDP-induced plant antiviral defense.
• To assess the potential of CAP as an eco-friendly strategy for enhancing plant disease resistance.

Main Methods:

• High-throughput RNA sequencing was employed to analyze transcriptome-wide gene expression and AS.
• Bioinformatics analyses included CLC Genomics Workbench, custom Python scripts, and functional enrichment tools (STRING, KEGG REST API).
• miRNA-mRNA networks were predicted using psRNATarget and visualized with Cytoscape.

Main Results:

• CAGDP treatment induced significant AS changes, primarily exon skipping and intron retention, in genes related to disease resistance.
• These splicing alterations were associated with key biological processes, including metabolic pathways, catalytic activity, and hormone signaling.
• A complex regulatory network involving transcriptional and post-transcriptional modifications, including miRNA-mRNA interactions, was identified, with 19 differentially expressed AS genes highlighted.

Conclusions:

• CAGDP effectively reprograms plant molecular pathways to activate antiviral defenses.
• The study demonstrates that CAP technology can enhance plant resistance to viral pathogens like ToBRFV.
• CAP presents a promising, sustainable approach for agricultural applications in crop protection.