Open chromatin in defense gene priming and systemic plant immunity

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Uwe Conrath
• Subject Area: Organismic Interactions, Chemical Ecology and Microbiomes of Plant Systems
• Term: from 2015 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 271511104

• Final Report Year: 2018

Final Report Abstract

The DFG-funded project was very successful. By comparing global FAIRE (i.e. open chromatin) and gene expression analyses, we demonstrated that open chromatin seems to be an epigenetic hallmark of defense gene priming and systemic acquired disease resistance (SAR). Known key genes of priming/SAR were shown to have open chromatin in their 5’ regulatory region during the induction of SAR. Novel genes for priming and SAR were identified based on open chromatin detection. Therefore, four of the five tasks of the project were accomplished whereas time constraints kept us from accomplishing tasks 5 (DNA-binding proteins) so far. In-depth data mining disclosed two novel DNA-sequence motifs that seem to be specifically associated with defense gene priming (P-box) and activation (C-box). Their specific role in defense gene regulation will be investigated in follow-up studies.

Publications

• (2016) Open chromatin in defense gene priming and systemic immunity in Arabidopsis thaliana. PhD thesis, RWTH Aachen University
  Baum S.