“Sensing, learning but forgetting”: the inability of strawberry plants to transmit the infochemically-mediated stress priming under salinity

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) are widely recognized for their role in priming neighbouring plants against pathogens and herbivores, whilst their involvement in airborne-mediated priming under abiotic stress remains largely unexplored. With a 3-step experiment, we tested the hypothesis that VOC e...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Costanza Ceccanti, Giulia Lauria, Fabrizio Araniti, Ermes Lo Piccolo, Ylenia Pieracci, Guido Flamini, Lucia Guidi, Marco Landi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-06-01
Series:Plant Stress
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667064X25001204
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850144255781109760
author Costanza Ceccanti
Giulia Lauria
Fabrizio Araniti
Ermes Lo Piccolo
Ylenia Pieracci
Guido Flamini
Lucia Guidi
Marco Landi
author_facet Costanza Ceccanti
Giulia Lauria
Fabrizio Araniti
Ermes Lo Piccolo
Ylenia Pieracci
Guido Flamini
Lucia Guidi
Marco Landi
author_sort Costanza Ceccanti
collection DOAJ
description Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) are widely recognized for their role in priming neighbouring plants against pathogens and herbivores, whilst their involvement in airborne-mediated priming under abiotic stress remains largely unexplored. With a 3-step experiment, we tested the hypothesis that VOC emissions by salt-stressed plants can prime neighbouring conspecific individuals once subjected to salinity. In step 1, salt-stressed (60 mM NaCl for 20 days; emitters – C+NaCl) strawberry plants (Fragaria × ananassa var. Elsanta) were grown together with receiver individuals irrigated with water only (NaCl-S). In step 2, a subset of NaCl-S plants was exposed to salt stress (NaCl-S+NaCl), while others were co-grown in a plastic box with additional unstressed strawberry plants (super receiver - NaCl-SS). Lastly, in step 3, NaCl-SS plants were treated with salt stress (NaCl-SS+NaCl). Control (C) – irrigated with water only – and C+NaCl plants of the same age as treated plants, were maintained as references for each step. In step 2, no differences were detected in terms of biomass, gas exchange parameters and chlorophyll content in NaCl-S+NaCl compared to non-stressed plants, thus confirming an enhanced stress tolerance mediated by infochemicals from emitters. Furthermore, in step 3, NaCl-SS+NaCl mirrored the performances of emitters, suggesting that no efficient airborne signal transmission took place from NaCl-S to NaCl-SS. The dataset offers evidence that neighbouring plants can perceive airborne signals, altering their metabolic profile and enhancing stress tolerance when subsequently stressed. Moreover, we demonstrate that, despite being primed, receivers cannot propagate the signal to their neighbouring conspecific individuals.
format Article
id doaj-art-b74b15c4e2774da6a381c94b7b92c3e1
institution OA Journals
issn 2667-064X
language English
publishDate 2025-06-01
publisher Elsevier
record_format Article
series Plant Stress
spelling doaj-art-b74b15c4e2774da6a381c94b7b92c3e12025-08-20T02:28:26ZengElsevierPlant Stress2667-064X2025-06-011610085510.1016/j.stress.2025.100855“Sensing, learning but forgetting”: the inability of strawberry plants to transmit the infochemically-mediated stress priming under salinityCostanza Ceccanti0Giulia Lauria1Fabrizio Araniti2Ermes Lo Piccolo3Ylenia Pieracci4Guido Flamini5Lucia Guidi6Marco Landi7Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, Pisa, ItalyDepartment of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, Pisa, ItalyDepartment of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences - Production, Landscape, Agroenergy, University of Milan, Milan, ItalyDepartment of Agriculture, Food, Environment and Forestry, University of Florence, Florence, ItalyDepartment of Pharmacy, University of Pisa, Pisa, ItalyDepartment of Pharmacy, University of Pisa, Pisa, ItalyDepartment of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, Pisa, ItalyDepartment of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy; Corresponding author.Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) are widely recognized for their role in priming neighbouring plants against pathogens and herbivores, whilst their involvement in airborne-mediated priming under abiotic stress remains largely unexplored. With a 3-step experiment, we tested the hypothesis that VOC emissions by salt-stressed plants can prime neighbouring conspecific individuals once subjected to salinity. In step 1, salt-stressed (60 mM NaCl for 20 days; emitters – C+NaCl) strawberry plants (Fragaria × ananassa var. Elsanta) were grown together with receiver individuals irrigated with water only (NaCl-S). In step 2, a subset of NaCl-S plants was exposed to salt stress (NaCl-S+NaCl), while others were co-grown in a plastic box with additional unstressed strawberry plants (super receiver - NaCl-SS). Lastly, in step 3, NaCl-SS plants were treated with salt stress (NaCl-SS+NaCl). Control (C) – irrigated with water only – and C+NaCl plants of the same age as treated plants, were maintained as references for each step. In step 2, no differences were detected in terms of biomass, gas exchange parameters and chlorophyll content in NaCl-S+NaCl compared to non-stressed plants, thus confirming an enhanced stress tolerance mediated by infochemicals from emitters. Furthermore, in step 3, NaCl-SS+NaCl mirrored the performances of emitters, suggesting that no efficient airborne signal transmission took place from NaCl-S to NaCl-SS. The dataset offers evidence that neighbouring plants can perceive airborne signals, altering their metabolic profile and enhancing stress tolerance when subsequently stressed. Moreover, we demonstrate that, despite being primed, receivers cannot propagate the signal to their neighbouring conspecific individuals.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667064X25001204Plant-plant communicationPrimary metabolismSalt stressVolatilomeAbiotic stress
spellingShingle Costanza Ceccanti
Giulia Lauria
Fabrizio Araniti
Ermes Lo Piccolo
Ylenia Pieracci
Guido Flamini
Lucia Guidi
Marco Landi
“Sensing, learning but forgetting”: the inability of strawberry plants to transmit the infochemically-mediated stress priming under salinity
Plant Stress
Plant-plant communication
Primary metabolism
Salt stress
Volatilome
Abiotic stress
title “Sensing, learning but forgetting”: the inability of strawberry plants to transmit the infochemically-mediated stress priming under salinity
title_full “Sensing, learning but forgetting”: the inability of strawberry plants to transmit the infochemically-mediated stress priming under salinity
title_fullStr “Sensing, learning but forgetting”: the inability of strawberry plants to transmit the infochemically-mediated stress priming under salinity
title_full_unstemmed “Sensing, learning but forgetting”: the inability of strawberry plants to transmit the infochemically-mediated stress priming under salinity
title_short “Sensing, learning but forgetting”: the inability of strawberry plants to transmit the infochemically-mediated stress priming under salinity
title_sort sensing learning but forgetting the inability of strawberry plants to transmit the infochemically mediated stress priming under salinity
topic Plant-plant communication
Primary metabolism
Salt stress
Volatilome
Abiotic stress
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667064X25001204
work_keys_str_mv AT costanzaceccanti sensinglearningbutforgettingtheinabilityofstrawberryplantstotransmittheinfochemicallymediatedstressprimingundersalinity
AT giulialauria sensinglearningbutforgettingtheinabilityofstrawberryplantstotransmittheinfochemicallymediatedstressprimingundersalinity
AT fabrizioaraniti sensinglearningbutforgettingtheinabilityofstrawberryplantstotransmittheinfochemicallymediatedstressprimingundersalinity
AT ermeslopiccolo sensinglearningbutforgettingtheinabilityofstrawberryplantstotransmittheinfochemicallymediatedstressprimingundersalinity
AT yleniapieracci sensinglearningbutforgettingtheinabilityofstrawberryplantstotransmittheinfochemicallymediatedstressprimingundersalinity
AT guidoflamini sensinglearningbutforgettingtheinabilityofstrawberryplantstotransmittheinfochemicallymediatedstressprimingundersalinity
AT luciaguidi sensinglearningbutforgettingtheinabilityofstrawberryplantstotransmittheinfochemicallymediatedstressprimingundersalinity
AT marcolandi sensinglearningbutforgettingtheinabilityofstrawberryplantstotransmittheinfochemicallymediatedstressprimingundersalinity