International Research Training Group 2172 PRoTECT
Goal
With the human population exceeding seven billion and growing, new
solutions are urgently needed to ensure food security for the global community
in a sustainable manner. The very active research field of plant-microbe/insect interaction can help to contribute to
this challenge. A better understanding of how plants interact with their biotic
environment will lead to improved and environmentally friendly crop protection
strategies to fend off pathogen and insect threats and support sustainable
agriculture. The consortium
aims to elucidate defense mechanisms that are operational in different cellular
and extracellular compartments of model and crop plants. Towards this goal the doctoral
researchers have access to almost all modern technologies of life sciences.
Scientific
Background
The IRTG specifically focuses on the following interconnected aspects
of plant pathogen interactions: Barriers, metabolites and signal transduction.
To
protect themselves against microbial diseases and feeding insects, plants have
evolved a wide variety of constitutive and inducible defense mechanisms.
The first pre-formed barriers that microorganisms and insects need to overcome
are the plant cuticle and the cell wall. After pathogen attack or insect
feeding, fragments of the cuticle and the cell wall can function as danger
associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) that can elicit inducible defense
reactions. Importantly, defense reactions are also triggered by microbe
associated molecular patterns (MAMPs). Upon perception of MAMPs or DAMPs by
plasma membrane-bound pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), intracellular
signaling cascades are activated finally resulting in nuclear transcriptional
reprogramming. The induced set of genes leads to the synthesis of cell wall
modifying enzymes, anti-microbial proteins, toxins, etc. This first layer of
immunity is called basal resistance and interferes efficiently with
propagation of a wide variety of pathogens. However, successful pathogens
suppress basal resistance by secreting distinct sets of pathogen-specific
effector molecules, which impede with plant metabolism and defense. During this compatible interaction, both
partners have to adapt to the prevailing environmental conditions that are influenced
by further biotic interactions, nutrient availability etc. To overcome
susceptibility triggered by adapted pathogens, plants have evolved
intracellular leucine-rich repeat (NB-LRR)-containing proteins (NLRs). The NLRs
either directly or indirectly detect pathogen-derived effectors and therefore
serve as resistance proteins. Activated NLR proteins elicit a very strong
local defense response that often results in the deliberate cell death of the
infected plant cell. Local defense responses triggered by either
MAMP-activated PRR or activated NLR proteins are often associated with
systemic immunity throughout the entire plant.
Organisation
The IRTG is managed by 8
research groups of the Georg August University Goettingen in close cooperation
with 7 research groups of the Department of Botany and the Michael-Smith
Laboratories of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. A joint PhD training
program and close cooperation within the projects provides international
experience and an international network to the doctoral researchers who also spend part of their PhD thesis in Canada.
The IRTG provides intense scientific guidance together with an excellent
experimental infrastructure for successful PhD projects. Moreover, the program
exposes the doctoral researchers to many cutting-edge methods that can be combined
with obligatory offers that meet with their individual needs in graduate
training.
Partners of the Georg-August University, Göttingen, Germany:
Prof. Dr. Ivo Feussner, (spokesperson), Department of Plant Biochemistry
Prof. Dr. Gerhard Braus, Department of Molecular Microbiology and Genetics
Prof. Dr. Christiane Gatz, Department Plant Molecular Biology and Physiology
JunProf. Dr. Kai Heimel, Department of Molecular Microbiology and Genetics
Dr. Till Ischebeck, Department of Plant Biochemistry
Prof. Dr. Petr Karlovsky, Molecular Phytopathology & Mycotoxin Research
Prof. Dr. Volker Lipka, Department of Plant Cell Biology
Prof. Dr. Andrea Polle, Department of Forest Botany and Tree Physiology
Dr. Marcel Wiermer, Molecular Biology of Plant-Microbe Interactions
Partners of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada:
Prof. Li Xin (spokesperson), Department of Botany
Prof. James Kronstad (spokesperson), Department of Microbiology and Immunology
Prof. Harry Brumer, Department of Botany and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Adjunct Prof. Guus Bakkeren, Department of Botany
Prof. George Haughn, Department of Botany
Prof. Ljerka Kunst, Department of Botany
Assoc. Prof. Zhang Yuelin, Department of Botany
Adjunct Prof. Guus Bakkeren, Department of Botany