Servicenavigation

Project Details

Back

Projekt Print View

SFB 648:  Molecular Mechanisms of Information Processing in Plants

Subject Area Biology
Medicine
Term from 2005 to 2016
Project identifier Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5486253
 
Final Report Year 2017

Final Report Abstract

Plant growth, development and defense reactions are highly flexible processes which are regulated in response to external abiotic stimuli or biotic factors such as pathogens or herbivores. Adaptation of plants to environmental conditions involves effective sensing mechanisms as well as intracellular and intraorganismal information processing. Understanding the principles of information processing in plants and plant-pathogen interactions was one of the major goals of the CRC 648. Research projects were divided into three multidisciplinary and intersecting areas, which focused on the interaction of plants with phytopathogenic organisms (project area A), intracellular plant signaling networks (project area B) and signal processing events with a focus on epigenetic control mechanisms (project area C). Plant signaling and defense pathways involved in plant-pathogen interactions (project area A) were studied in response to infections by the bacterial tomato and pepper pathogen Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria, the fungus and cereal pathogen Colletotrichum graminicola, the oomycete Phytophthora infestans and Tomato Bushy Stunt Virus, which serves as a model system for the analysis of positivesense single-stranded RNA viruses. Research topics associated with pathogen-induced signal processing included bacterial adaptation to environmental conditions, delivery and functional characterization of bacterial effector proteins as well as viral replication mechanisms. The analysis of plant reactions in response to pathogen attack focused on the induction of basal defense reactions elicited by pathogenassociated molecular patterns (PAMPs) or viral RNAs. Major achievements include the elucidation of the function of the transcription activator-like (TAL) effector AvrBs3 and the cloning of the corresponding plant resistance gene. Furthermore, a cell-free plant system for the analysis of viral replication and virusinduced RNA silencing was developed, and plant proteins involved in PAMP recognition were identified. Research on intracellular signaling networks in plants (project area B) included the analysis of mitogenactivated protein kinase (MAPK) cascades and calcium signaling in response to environmental stimuli. In addition, the role of phosphoinositides and inositol-polyphosphates during plant defense and phytohormone signaling as well as the regulation of terpene biosynthesis in response to herbivory were studied. An additional research topic was the analysis of the plant Elongator complex, which is involved in tRNA modification and impacts on various plant pathways including leaf growth, development and defense responses. Important findings include the identification of chloroplastic calcium transporters and the discovery of novel MAPK substrates such as a member of the IQD protein family, which provides a link between MAPK and calcium signaling. IQD proteins are involved in signal processing and contribute to cell morphogenesis by their interaction with microtubules. The signal processing events studied in project area C included epigenetic mechanisms that control heterochromatic gene silencing and the role of Aurora kinases in cell-cycle control and epigenetic regulation. The establishment of a luciferase-based transgene assay system fostered the analysis of repeatdependent transcriptional gene silencing and led to the identification of new plant silencing suppressors. A new project in the last period of the CRC, which established Colletotrichum graminicola as a model system for epigenetic analyses, demonstrated that fungal virulence is under epigenetic control. A major scientific highlight was the identification of the first known protein-encoding gene on a plant B chromosome, which is a dispensable part of the nuclear genome and was considered to lack functional genes. The multi-disciplinary collaborations established between the different projects of this CRC with focus on genetics, epigenetics, biochemistry or cell biology significantly fostered a better understanding of fundamental questions in plant biology. The results provide an excellent basis for future research networks.

Publications

 
 

Additional Information

© 2025 DFG Disclaimer / Copyright / Privacy Policy

Textvergrößerung und Kontrastanpassung