BackgroundClimate change will increase the occurrence of plants being simultaneously subjected to drought and pathogen stress. Although it is well known that drought can alter the way in which plants respond to pathogens, knowledge about the effect of concurrent drought and biotic stress on grapevine is scarce. This is especially true for Plasmopara viticola, the causal agent of grapevine downy mildew. This research addresses how vines with different drought tolerances respond to challenge with P. viticola, drought stress or their combination and how one stress affects the other.ResultsArtificial inoculation was performed on two cultivars exposed to full or deficit irrigation in the Mediterranean climate of Cyprus. In parallel, leaf discs from these plants were inoculated under controlled conditions. Leaves were sampled at an early infection stage to determine the influence of the single and combined stresses on oxidative parameters, chlorophyll, and phytohormones. Under irrigation, the local Cypriot cultivar Xynisteri was more susceptible to P. viticola than the drought-sensitive cultivar Chardonnay. Successful infection by P. viticola at 1.5 days post inoculation was associated with high levels of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), salicylic acid (SA), jasmonic acid (JA), and proline and strong decreases in antioxidant enzyme activity. Drought, on the other hand, triggered the accumulation of IAA and abscisic acid (ABA), which antagonized JA and SA. Exposure to drought stress increased the susceptibility to P. viticola of the leaves inoculated under controlled conditions. Conversely, both cultivars showed resistance against P. viticola when inoculated in planta under continued deficit irrigation. Despite their resistance, the pathogen-associated responses of IAA, antioxidant enzyme activity, and proline still occurred in these drought-stressed plants. Surprisingly, ABA, rather than the generally implicated JA and SA, seemed to play a prominent role in this resistance.ConclusionsDrought exposure increased the susceptibility of leaves inoculated in vitro. Conversely, deficit irrigation induced resistance to P. viticola in both Chardonnay and Xynisteri plants inoculated in planta. ABA, rather than JA and SA, was implicated in this resistance. The irrigation-dependent susceptibility indicates that the changing climate and the practices used to mitigate its effects may have a profound impact on plant pathogens.