The transcriptome of Arabidopsis thaliana during systemic acquired resistance
nature genetics • volume 26 • december 2000
Klaus Maleck, Aaron Levine, Thomas Eulgem, Allen Morgan, Jürg Schmid, Kay A. Lawton, Jeffery L. Dangl& Robert A. Dietrich
Summary
Infected plants undergo transcriptional reprogramming during initiation of both local defence and systemic
acquired resistance (SAR). We monitored gene-expression changes in Arabidopsis thaliana under 14 different
SAR-inducing or SAR-repressing conditions using a DNA microarray representing approximately 25–30% of all A.
thaliana genes. We derived groups of genes with common regulation patterns, or regulons. The regulon containing
PR-1, a reliable marker gene for SAR in A. thaliana, contains known PR genes and novel genes likely to function
during SAR and disease resistance. We identified a common promoter element in genes of this regulon that
binds members of a plant-specific transcription factor family. Our results extend expression profiling to definition
of regulatory networks and gene discovery in plants.