Molecular specificity of signal input and signal output in plant receptor kinases (D05)

• Subject Area: Organismic Interactions, Chemical Ecology and Microbiomes of Plant Systems ; Plant Biochemistry and Biophysics ; Structural Biology
• Term: from 2014 to 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 232631280

The project aims at understanding how specificity for distinct ligands is determined by structurally highly similar LRR domains of EFR, Eli (EFR-like), CORE and XA21. Using targeted changes of the surface in these LRR domains (by LRR swaps, design of synthetic LRRs, site-specific mutagenesis) the functionally relevant residues will be identified and, if possible, used to create novel, synthetic ligand-receptor pairs. In a second part, the modular architecture of BRI1 and EFR will be used for the construction of chimeric receptors with which we aim to elucidate how distinct cytoplasmic signal output programs (development versus defence) are determined.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1101: Molecular Encoding of Specificity in Plant Processes
• Applicant Institution: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen
• Project Head: Professor Dr. Georg Felix