Project Details
Projekt
Evolution of salicylic acid pathway
Subject Area
Evolution and Systematics of Plants and Fungi
Term
since 2020
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 440240293
In nature, plants live in association with a large variety of microbes, which are beneficial, neutral, or detrimental. Given that the mode of plant-microbe interactions is presumed to be very different in terrestrial and aquatic environments, molecular innovations or adaptations of immunity-related pathways probably have played a crucial role in plant terrestrialization. Extensive studies have revealed conserved and unique molecular mechanisms underlying plant-microbe interactions across different plant species; however, most insights gleaned to date have been limited to angiosperms. Thus, a molecular dissection of the immune system of bryophytes and streptophyte algae is needed to puzzle out the adaptation processes to the terrestrial environment. Salicylic acid (SA) is a major defence-related phytohormone, which primarily induces resistance against biotrophic and hemi-biotrophic pathogens in angiosperms. SA is also present in a range of bryophytes and streptophyte algae. However, SA function in defence responses and SA pathway components in bryophytes and streptophyte algae remain uncharacterized. Notably, NPR gene is absent in the sequenced genomes of streptophyte algae, and thus plants probably have acquired the canonical SA receptor NPR during terrestrialization. In this project, we aim to unravel the evolution of SA function and signalling. We will approach this aim by firstly describing SA responses at transcriptome and proteome levels in plants either having or lacking the canonical embryophyte SA receptor NPR, which include three bryophytes and six streptophyte algae. Secondary, the evolution of the SA perception mechanism will be investigated at the molecular level by characterising NPR in bryophytes and by exploring novel SA receptors.
DFG Programme
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