Validation of RT-qPCR approaches to monitor Pseudomonas syringae gene expression during infection and exposure to pattern-triggered immunity

Abstract

Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 (DC3000) is an important model plant pathogen, with a fully annotated genome and multiple compatible plant hosts. Very few studies have examined the regulation of DC3000 gene expression in vivo. We developed a RT-qPCR assay to monitor transcriptional changes in DC3000 inoculated into Arabidopsis thaliana leaves during disease and exposure to pattern-triggered immunity (PTI). In our approach, bacterial RNA concentrations in total tissue RNA are standardized using P.syringae-specific16S ribosomal RNA primers. We validated multiple stable reference genes for normalization in calculating the relative expression of genes of interest. We used empirically derived rates of amplification efficiency to calculate relative expression of key marker genes for virulence-associated regulation. We demonstrated that exposure to PTI alters DC3000 expression of Type III secretion system, coronatine synthesis genes and flagellar marker genes.