Data from: Increased growth in sunflower correlates with reduced defenses and altered gene expression in response to biotic and abiotic stress

The experiments reported here were designed to test for growth-defense trade-offs in agricultural weeds, crops, and native varieties of common sunflower (Helianthus annuus L., Asteraceae) by comparing their performance in the presence or absence of abiotic (drought and crowding) or biotic (simulated herbivory, insect herbivory, and fungal) stress. We found that growth, as well viability of crops and weeds, were reduced by abiotic drought stress.

The weakened defense in the agricultural genotypes was further evident as increased susceptibility to fungal infection and higher level of insect palatability. To uncover molecular mechanisms underlying these trade-offs we monitored gene expression kinetics in drought-stressed plants. By correlating phenotypic observations with molecular analyses, we report the identification of several genes, including a protein phosphatase 2C and the HD-Zip transcription factor Athb-8, whose expression is associated with the observed phenotypic variation in common sunflower.

Usage notes

DryadMEC_final The data file contains 4 spreadsheets. Sheet1: The first spreadsheet contains information on growth and morphological traits under 4 different treatments - control, drought, simulated herbivory and high density. The second sheet contains information about the botrytis experiment.

Sheet 3 contains information about the insect herbivory experiment. Sheet 4 - expression data for each gene (named as in the text), for each genotype (column 1), based on fold expression changes relative to the control. See readme file for complete details.