V.R. van Oosten : "Thale cress: a weed with a highly complex response to biotic stress"

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18 Apr 2007 16:00
Unit: Wageningen University
Location: Aula, building 362, Gen. Foulkesweg 1, Wageningen
Organisation: Wageningen University
Promotor: prof.dr. M. Dicke (Entomology)
Co Promotor: C.M.J. Pieterse (UU), L.C. van Loon (UU)

 Insects, bacteria and fungi can use plants as a nutrient source. In order to defend themselves, plants activate their defenses upon attack. To gain more insight in the way plants defend themselves, the model plant thale cress was infested with five attackers that deploy different modes of attack: aphids, thrips, caterpillars, bacteria and fungi. The composition and quantity of signaling compounds produced by the plant upon attack (“signal signature”) was attacker-specific. Analysis of the induced genes showed that each “signal signature” in the plant was translated into a highly complex gene-expression pattern. Despite the fact that four attackers stimulated the production of the phytohormone jasmonic acid (JA), the overlap of JA-inducible genes was small. However, many induced genes, although not identical, play roles in comparable biological processes. This indicates that the different attackers induce changes in similar plant processes through largely non-overlapping transcriptional alterations. Thus, thale cress is a weed with a highly complex response to biotic stress.

Title thesis: "Induced pathogen and insect resistance in Arabidopsis: Transcriptomics and specificity of defens"
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