Increased expression of defense-related genes may explain enhanced Botrytis cinerea resistance of Arabidopsis plants grown in compost

Abstract: A compost from olive marc and olive tree leaves was able to induce resistance against Botrytis cinerea in Arabidopsis, unlike the standard substrate, perlite. Microarray analyses revealed that 178 genes were differently expressed, with a fold change cut-off of 1. A functional enrichment study of up-regulated genes revealed that 38 Gene Ontology terms were significantly enriched. Compost triggered a plant response that shares similarities with both systemic acquired resistance and ABA-dependent/independent abiotic stress responses.