Unfortunately, this seminar has been postponed. A new date and time will be announced later.
Abstract
The research activities in my lab have a focus on how plants use small peptide ligands and plasma-membrane receptor proteins to regulate important developmental processes and to respond to both biotic and abiotic stresses. The lab has for a long time worked on elucidating the genetic networks that controls abscission (organ loss) of Arabidopsis floral organs. Abscission is an active, highly regulated process in the life span of a plant and has a variety of roles during plant development. Roles such as efficient dispersal or propagation of the plant secured by the shedding of pollen, fruits, and seeds; The shedding of unwanted or unneeded organs, such as the flower after aiding in pollination, And lastly damaged or infected organs may be rapidly shed as a defence mechanism.
In Arabidopsis floral abscission is tightly regulated by the peptide ligand INFLORESCENCE DEFICIENT IN ABSCISSION (IDA) relaying a signal through the Leucine-rich repeat (LRR) receptor-like kinases (RLK) HAESA (HAE) and HAESA-LIKE 2 (HSL2) and inducing a signalling cascade including MAP kinases, MADS box and KNOX transcription factors.
Recent work in the lab indicates a role for the IDA signalling pathway as a mediator of stress induced responses such as pathogens. Here I will present new data showing how a single peptide can regulate separate biological processes by recruiting different receptor complexes and downstream effectors of signalling. I will discuss the significance of localised defence responses for plant survival and adaptation.
Melinka A. Butenko, Section for Genetics and Evolutionary Biology, Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo