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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Multi-omics network analysis identifies putative regulators of molecular responses to water stress and sulfur deficiency in Pisum sativum

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description

Plants in their physical environment face multiple biotic and abiotic stresses duringtheir life cycle. In nature, environmental stresses often co-occur – such as water deficit andnutrient deficiencies – and can have synergistic, antagonistic or additive effects on the plantmolecular responses. In pea (Pisum sativum), combination of water stress (WS) and sulfur (S)deficiency showed a mitigation effect on the seed protein composition, as compared to Sdeficiency occurring alone (Henriet et al., 2019). To better understand how pea responds toWS and/or S deficiency, a multi-omics (transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, ionomics)analysis has been performed from leaf samples collected during a time course, on differentlots of plants subjected to either WS, S deficiency, or to the combination of the two stressors.Our analyses revealed that 21% of the stress-responsive mRNAs, proteins, metabolites andions showed a stronger response when S deficiency occurs with WS, suggesting synergisticor additive effects. Using a weighted-gene co-expression network approach, we evidencedgenes strongly regulated by changes in the S concentration in leaves. The comparisonbetween our transcriptomics and proteomics data allows us to formulate hypotheses on thelevel of regulation (transcriptional or post-transcriptional) of these genes. We also proposecandidate genes that might help plants to better tolerate combinatorial stresses.