Artificial mimicry of seasonal transcriptome dynamics in Arabidopsis thaliana reveals short- and long-term responses to environmental conditions

Abstract

Plants must respond to various environmental factors that change seasonally. In a previous study, seasonally oscillating genes were identified by a massive time-series transcriptome analysis in a wild population of Arabidopsis halleri ssp. gemmifera, a sister species of Arabidopsis thaliana. To analyze the function of these seasonally oscillating genes, we established an experimental system to mimic seasonal expression trends using A. thaliana. Arabidopsis thaliana plants were cultured under conditions that mimicked average monthly temperatures and daylengths in a “smart growth chamber mini,” a hand-made low-cost small chamber. Under different short-term incubations, the seasonal trends of 1627 seasonally oscillating genes were mimicked. These seasonally oscillating genes had varying temporal responsiveness (constant, transient, and incremental). Our findings suggest that plants perceive and integrate information about environmental stimuli in the field by combining seasonally oscillating genes with temporal responsiveness.