ORCID Profile
0000-0001-5092-6168
Current Organisation
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
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Plant Cell and Molecular Biology | Plant Biology | Plant Physiology | Crop and Pasture Protection (Pests, Diseases and Weeds)
Control of Plant Pests, Diseases and Exotic Species in Farmland, Arable Cropland and Permanent Cropland Environments | Expanding Knowledge in the Biological Sciences | Canola |
Publisher: Zenodo
Date: 2021
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 20-12-2022
DOI: 10.1101/2022.12.20.521292
Abstract: Jasmonic acid (JA), ethylene (ET) and salicylic acid (SA) are the three major phytohormones coordinating a plant’s defense response to pathogenic attack. While JA and ET are assumed to primarily control the defense against necrotrophic pathogens, SA-induced defense responses target mainly biotrophic microbes, and can include drastic measures such as programmed cell death as part of the plant’s hypersensitive response (HR). Fusarium oxysporum is a hemibiotrophic fungal pathogen of several plant species, including many important food crops, and the model plant species Arabidopsis thaliana . Colonization of the plant’s root vascular tissue by the fungus eventually results in wilting and plant death. A general role for JA, ET and SA in combating infection and colonization of the plant by F. oxysporum has been demonstrated, but their distinct roles and modes of action have so far not been described. Here, using high resolution microscopy with fluorescent marker lines of A. thaliana roots infected with F. oxysporum we show that SA acts spatially separate from JA, in a distinct set of root cells immediately neighboring the fungal colonization site. There, SA induces HR to stop the spread of colonization. JA acts in a different, but also clearly defined set of cells, slightly removed from the colonization site, where it initiates a defense response to actively resist the invader. ET is activated in a stretch of cells that covers both, the cells with activated SA and JA signaling, and may be involved in creating these two distinct zones. These results show how the three phytohormones act together, but spatially and functionally separate from each other, to fight this hemibiotrophic pathogen. Such a high-resolution analysis to resolve the plant’s immune response to pathogenic infection on an in idual cell level and in intact tissue has so far been lacking. Colonization of the A . thaliana root tip by F . oxysporum strain Fo 5176 leads to immediate cell death of the colonized and surrounding tissue. As the colonization front progresses through the vasculature, the cell death front moves along with it through not only the vasculature, but also the surrounding tissues. WRKY70 positively regulates salicylic acid (SA) biosynthesis in cells immediately adjacent to the colonized tissue, inducing a hypersensitive response (HR), thereby killing off the cells deemed lost to the intruder, establishing the cell death front. Slightly further removed from the HR zone, WRKY11 induces jasmonate (JA) biosynthesis in cells of the vasculature to launch a defense response aimed at actively repelling the fungus.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 10-2018
DOI: 10.1038/S41477-018-0260-4
Abstract: The bulk of a plant's biomass, termed secondary cell walls, accumulates in woody xylem tissues and is largely recalcitrant to biochemical degradation and saccharification
Publisher: Zenodo
Date: 2020
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Date: 04-08-2015
DOI: 10.1126/SCISIGNAL.AAB0598
Abstract: In plants, the flagellin and CLAVATA3 signaling pathways act through induced and preassembled receptor complexes, respectively.
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 22-02-2019
DOI: 10.1101/557777
Abstract: The force of gravity is a constant environmental factor. Plant shoots respond to gravity through negative gravitropism and gravity resistance. These responses are essential for plants to direct the growth of aerial organs away from the soil surface after germination and to keep an upright posture above ground. We took advantage of the effect of brassinosteroids on the two types of graviresponses in Arabidopsis thaliana hypocotyls to disentangle functions of cell wall polymers during etiolated shoot growth. The ability of etiolated Arabidopsis seedlings to grow upwards was suppressed in the presence of 24-epibrassinolide (EBL) but enhanced in the presence of brassinazole (BRZ), an inhibitor of brassinosteroid biosynthesis. These effects were accompanied by changes in cell wall mechanics and composition. Cell wall biochemical analyses and confocal microscopy of the cellulose-specific pontamine S4B dye revealed that the EBL and BRZ treatments correlated with changes in cellulose fibre organization and mannan content. Indeed, a longitudinal re-orientation of cellulose fibres supported upright growth whereas the presence of mannans reduced gravitropic bending. The negative effect of mannans on gravitropism is a new function for this class of hemicelluloses, highlighting evolutionary adaptations by which aquatic ancestors of terrestrial plants colonized land.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2016
DOI: 10.1016/J.DEVCEL.2016.06.032
Abstract: Cellulose is the most abundant biopolymer on Earth and is the major contributor to plant morphogenesis. Cellulose is synthesized by plasma membrane-localized cellulose synthase complexes (CSCs). Nascent cellulose microfibrils become entangled in the cell wall, and further catalysis therefore drives the CSC forward through the membrane: a process guided by cortical microtubules via the protein CSI1/POM2. Still, it is unclear how the microtubules can withstand the forces generated by the motile CSCs to effectively direct CSC movement. Here, we identified a family of microtubule-associated proteins, the cellulose synthase-microtubule uncouplings (CMUs), that located as static puncta along cortical microtubules. Functional disruption of the CMUs caused lateral microtubule displacement and compromised microtubule-based guidance of CSC movement. CSCs that traversed the microtubules interacted with the microtubules via CSI1/POM2, which prompted the lateral microtubule displacement. Hence, we have revealed how microtubules can withstand the propulsion of the CSCs during cellulose biosynthesis and thus sustain anisotropic plant cell growth.
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Date: 2012
Publisher: The Company of Biologists
Date: 15-09-2016
DOI: 10.1242/DEV.133645
Abstract: Shoot meristems are maintained by pluripotent stem cells that are controlled by CLAVATA-WUSCHEL feedback signaling. This pathway, which coordinates stem cell proliferation with differentiation, was first identified in Arabidopsis, but appears to be conserved in erse higher plant species. In this Review, we highlight the commonalities and differences between CLAVATA-WUSCHEL pathways in different species, with an emphasis on Arabidopsis, maize, rice and tomato. We focus on stem cell control in shoot meristems, but also briefly discuss the role of these signaling components in root meristems.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 16-07-2022
DOI: 10.1093/JXB/ERAC263
Abstract: Fusarium oxysporum is a soil-borne fungal pathogen of several major food crops. Research on understanding the molecular details of fungal infection and the plant’s defense mechanisms against this pathogen has long focused mainly on the tomato-infecting F. oxysporum strains and their specific host plant. However, in recent years, the Arabidopsis thaliana–Fusarium oxysporum strain 5176 (Fo5176) pathosystem has additionally been established to study this plant–pathogen interaction with all the molecular biology, genetic, and genomic tools available for the A. thaliana model system. Work on this system has since produced several new insights, especially with regards to the role of phytohormones involved in the plant’s defense response, and the receptor proteins and peptide ligands involved in pathogen detection. Furthermore, work with the pathogenic strain Fo5176 and the related endophytic strain Fo47 has demonstrated the suitability of this system for comparative studies of the plant’s specific responses to general microbe- or pathogen-associated molecular patterns. In this review, we highlight the advantages of this specific pathosystem, summarize the advances made in studying the molecular details of this plant–fungus interaction, and point out open questions that remain to be answered.
Publisher: Springer New York
Date: 2017
DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-7003-2_17
Abstract: The formation of protein complexes through direct protein-protein interaction is essential for virtually every biological process, and accordingly the ability to determine the interaction properties of specific proteins is important to understand these processes. Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) measurements are state-of-the-art confocal fluorescence microscopy- and imaging-based techniques that allow the analysis of protein interactions in vivo and in planta, in specific compartments of single cells or tissues. Here we provide a step-by-step guide to perform FRET measurements by acceptor photobleaching (APB) and fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) in the plant expression system Nicotiana benthamiana.
Publisher: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Date: 27-06-2017
Abstract: In the crowded interior of a cell, diffusion alone is insufficient to master varying transport requirements for cell sustenance and growth. The dynamic actin cytoskeleton is an essential cellular component that provides transport and cytoplasmic streaming in plant cells, but little is known about its system-level organization. Here, we resolve key challenges in understanding system-level actin-based transport. We present an automated image-based, network-driven framework that accurately incorporates both actin cytoskeleton and organelle trafficking. We demonstrate that actin cytoskeleton network properties support efficient transport in both growing and elongated hypocotyl cells. We show that organelle transport can be predicted from the system-wide cellular organization of the actin cytoskeleton. Our framework can be readily applied to investigate cytoskeleton-based transport in other organisms.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 04-2022
DOI: 10.1002/CPZ1.417
Abstract: The adoption of Arabidopsis thaliana in the 1980s as a universal plant model finally enabled researchers to adopt and take full advantage of the molecular biology tools and methods developed in the bacterial and animal fields since the early 1970s. It further brought the plant sciences up to speed with other research fields, which had been employing widely accepted model organisms for decades. In parallel with this major development, the concurrent establishment of the plant transformation methodology and the description of the cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) 35S promoter enabled scientists to create robust transgenic plant lines for the first time, thereby providing a valuable tool for studying gene function. The ability to create transgenic plants launched the plant biotechnology sector, with Monsanto and Plant Genetic Systems developing the first herbicide‐ and pest‐tolerant plants, initiating a revolution in the agricultural industry. Here I review the major developments over a less than 10‐year span and demonstrate how they complemented each other to trigger a revolution in plant molecular biology and launch an era of unprecedented progress for the whole plant field. © 2022 The Authors. Current Protocols published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. [Correction added on May 16, 2022, after first online publication: CAUL funding statement has been added.]
Publisher: PeerJ
Date: 10-08-2018
DOI: 10.7287/PEERJ.PREPRINTS.27096V2
Abstract: In an organism, be it plant, animal or human, almost every gene has its own promoter sequence, which is typified as a DNA stretch that controls how a gene is expressed in a cell. Hence, the activity of a promoter controls in which cell type, during which developmental stage or during what environmental condition a certain gene is expressed. However, the most widely used promoter in plant biotechnology is actually not derived from a plant, but a pathogenic virus. How and why did that happen? Here's a short history of the CaMV 35S promoter.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 11-2010
DOI: 10.1002/CPZ1.577
Abstract: When the microscope was first introduced to scientists in the 17 th century, it started a revolution. Suddenly, a whole new world, invisible to the naked eye, was opened to curious explorers. In response to this realization, Nehemiah Grew, an English plant anatomist and physiologist and one of the early microscopists, noted in 1682 “ that Nothing hereof remains further to be known, is a Thought not well Calculated ”. Since Grew made his observations, the microscope has undergone numerous variations, developing from early compound microscopes—hollow metal tubes with a lens on each end—to the modern, sophisticated, out‐of‐the‐box super‐resolution microscopes available to researchers today. In this Overview article, I describe these developments and discuss how each new and improved variant of the microscope led to major breakthroughs in the life sciences, with a focus on the plant field. These advances start with Grew's simple and—at the time—surprising realization that plant cells are as complex as animals cells, and that the different parts of the plant body indeed qualify to be called “organs”, then move on to the development of the groundbreaking “cell theory” in the mid‐19 th century and the description of eu‐ and heterochromatin in the early 20 th century, and finish with the precise localization of in idual proteins in intact, living cells that we can perform today. Indeed, Grew was right with ever‐increasing resolution, there really does not seem to be an end to what can be explored with a microscope. © 2022 The Authors. Current Protocols published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.
Publisher: EMBO
Date: 18-06-2023
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 10-2020
DOI: 10.1104/PP.20.01021
Publisher: The Company of Biologists
Date: 15-01-2018
DOI: 10.1242/JCS.207373
Abstract: Plant cells are surrounded by a strong polysaccharide-rich cell wall that aids in determining the overall form, growth and development of the plant body. Indeed, the unique shapes of the 40-odd cell types in plants are determined by their walls, as removal of the cell wall results in spherical protoplasts that are amorphic. Hence, assembly and remodeling of the wall is essential in plant development. Most plant cell walls are composed of a framework of cellulose microfibrils that are cross-linked to each other by heteropolysaccharides. The cell walls are highly dynamic and adapt to the changing requirements of the plant during growth. However, despite the importance of plant cell walls for plant growth and for applications that we use in our daily life such as food, feed and fuel, comparatively little is known about how they are synthesized and modified. In this Cell Science at a Glance article and accompanying poster, we aim to illustrate the underpinning cell biology of the synthesis of wall carbohydrates, and their incorporation into the wall, in the model plant Arabidopsis.
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 20-12-2022
DOI: 10.1101/2022.12.20.521163
Abstract: The regulatory sequences controlling the expression of a gene (i.e., the promoter) are essential to properly understand a gene’s function. From their use in mutant complementation assays, to studying their responsiveness to different stimuli via transcriptional reporter lines or using them as proxy for the activation of certain pathways, assays using promoter sequences are valuable tools for insight into the genetic architecture underlying plant life. The GreenGate (GG) system is a plant-specific variant of the Golden Gate assembly method, a modular cloning system that allows the hierarchical assembly of in idual donor DNA fragments into one expression clone via a single reaction step. Here, we present a collection of 75 GG entry vectors carrying putative regulatory sequences for Arabidopsis thaliana genes involved in many different pathways of the plant immune system, designated Plant Immune system Promoters (PIP). This pGG-PIP entry vector set enables the rapid assembly of expression vectors to be used for transcriptional reporters of plant immune system components, mutant complementation assays when coupled with coding sequences, mis-expression experiments for genes of interest, or the targeted use of CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing. We used pGG-PIP vectors to create fluorescent transcriptional reporters in A . thaliana and demonstrated the potential of these reporters to image the responsiveness of specific plant immunity genes to infection and colonization by the fungal pathogen Fusarium oxysporum . Using the PLANT ELICITOR PEPTIDE (PEP) pathway as an ex le, we show that several components of this pathway are locally activated in response to colonization by the fungus.
Publisher: PeerJ
Date: 14-05-2018
DOI: 10.7287/PEERJ.PREPRINTS.26931V1
Abstract: 75 Years ago Arabidopsis thaliana was first suggested as a Model Plant – But how did Arabidopsis Col-0 become the standard natural accession? This is a short history of Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. Columbia-0.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 26-05-2016
DOI: 10.1093/JXB/ERW207
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 17-10-2017
DOI: 10.1105/TPC.17.00645
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 11-02-2021
DOI: 10.1093/PCP/PCAB024
Abstract: The force of gravity is a constant environmental factor. Plant shoots respond to gravity through negative gravitropism and gravity resistance. These responses are essential for plants to direct the growth of aerial organs away from the soil surface after germination and to keep an upright posture above ground. We took advantage of the effect of brassinosteroids (BRs) on the two types of graviresponses in Arabidopsis thaliana hypocotyls to disentangle functions of cell wall polymers during etiolated shoot growth. The ability of etiolated Arabidopsis seedlings to grow upward was suppressed in the presence of 24-epibrassinolide (EBL) but enhanced in the presence of brassinazole (BRZ), an inhibitor of BR biosynthesis. These effects were accompanied by changes in cell wall mechanics and composition. Cell wall biochemical analyses, confocal microscopy of the cellulose-specific pontamine S4B dye and cellular growth analyses revealed that the EBL and BRZ treatments correlated with changes in cellulose fibre organization, cell expansion at the hypocotyl base and mannan content. Indeed, a longitudinal reorientation of cellulose fibres and growth inhibition at the base of hypocotyls supported their upright posture whereas the presence of mannans reduced gravitropic bending. The negative effect of mannans on gravitropism is a new function for this class of hemicelluloses. We also found that EBL interferes with upright growth of hypocotyls through their uneven thickening at the base.
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 17-08-2016
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 04-07-2018
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 09-04-2020
DOI: 10.1093/AOB/MCAA063
Abstract: Model organisms are at the core of life science research. Notable ex les include the mouse as a model for humans, baker’s yeast for eukaryotic unicellular life and simple genetics, or the enterobacteria phage λ in virology. Plant research was an exception to this rule, with researchers relying on a variety of non-model plants until the eventual adoption of Arabidopsis thaliana as primary plant model in the 1980s. This proved to be an unprecedented success, and several secondary plant models have since been established. Currently, we are experiencing another wave of expansion in the set of plant models. Since the 2000s, new model plants have been established to study numerous aspects of plant biology, such as the evolution of land plants, grasses, invasive and parasitic plant life, adaptation to environmental challenges, and the development of morphological ersity. Concurrent with the establishment of new plant models, the advent of the ‘omics’ era in biology has led to a resurgence of the more complex non-model plants. With this review, we introduce some of the new and fascinating plant models, outline why they are interesting subjects to study, the questions they will help to answer, and the molecular tools that have been established and are available to researchers. Understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying all aspects of plant biology can only be achieved with the adoption of a comprehensive set of models, each of which allows the assessment of at least one aspect of plant life. The model plants described here represent a step forward towards our goal to explore and comprehend the ersity of plant form and function. Still, several questions remain unanswered, but the constant development of novel technologies in molecular biology and bioinformatics is already paving the way for the next generation of plant models.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 08-03-2022
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 21-02-2022
Start Date: 2020
End Date: 2023
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2016
End Date: End date not available
Funder: German Research Foundation
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 03-2020
End Date: 03-2023
Amount: $419,589.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded Activity