Elucidating the function of the autophagic pathway in a combined heat-pathogen stress scenario in tomato

• Applicant: Dr. Heike Seybold
• Subject Area: Plant Physiology ; Plant Biochemistry and Biophysics
• Term: from 2020 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 446674370

To compensate for their sessile nature, plants have developed strategies to deal with unfavorable environmental conditions. As a cellular recycling mechanism, autophagy plays an important role in plant stress responses. In the proposed research project, I will study the role of autophagy in a combined heat-pathogen stress scenario in tomato plants. I will manipulate the autophagic activity of cells by overexpression or silencing of ATG genes, respectively, which are involved in the autophagic pathway. I addition, I will manipulate autophagy on a transcriptional level by overexpression or silencing of transcription factors known to regulate ATG transcription. I will compare the effect of the described manipulations of ATGs on tomato plants subjected to heat or pathogens, respectively, as well as to the combined heat-pathogen stress. I am especially interested how the manipulation of ATGs influences plant metabolism and phytohormones known to be involved in plant stress responses. With the proposed project I will elucidate whether heat-tolerance and resistance to pathogens can be increased simultaneously in tomato plants by manipulation of the autophagic pathway.

• DFG Programme: WBP Fellowship
• International Connection: Israel
• Host: Tamar Avin-Wittenberg