TuMV infection in Arabidopsis: Impact on rosette development and water management

CARLOS AUGUSTO MANACORDA; MOIRA SUTKA; PABLO CÁCERES; SERGIO ALEMANO; IRENE BAROLI; GABRIELA AMODEO.; SEBASTIÁN ASURMENDI

Santa Fe

Congreso; XXXIII Reunión Argentina ricano de Fisiología vegetal; 2021

Characterization of themorphological andphysiological outcomesof viral infections is important to objectivelyquantify the damage caused by them, as well as to envision controlstrategies that can subsequently be assessed. Due to the importanceof water homeostasis and balance during stress, we focused on watermanagement in Arabidopsis under viral infection, a topic that isstill poorly understood. Taking into account the interconnectednessof plant tissues, and the spread of virus throughout the entireplant, we studied TuMV impact both at the rosette and root levels. Ahydroponic-based system was optimized to gain access to intact roottissue. In this first part of our work we show the main results thatwere found at the rosette level. Classical morphological parameters were simultaneously assessed bymeans of PCA, showing a clear separation between treatments. Asexpected, TuMV arrested rosette growth and PCA demonstrated that notonly rosette sizebut also its shape was affected by the virus. Also, the defense andstress-response hormones SA and ABA overaccumulated under infection.Analysis of physiological parameters showed a decrease of stomatalconductance and water consumption by 40 and 24%, respectively,whereas leaf osmolyteand relative watercontent increased significantly, suggesting that the viral infectioncaused a major hydraulic reorganization in the rosette. These resultsraised the question whether the virus could affect the anatomical andphysiological traits of the roots as well. Our findings related toroot water management are presented in a separate poster.