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SUMMARY:Conserved defences underpin host responses to oomycete infection i
 n liverworts - Philip Carella\, SLCU
DTSTART:20191205T130000Z
DTEND:20191205T140000Z
UID:TALK131716@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:71002
DESCRIPTION:The expansion of plants onto land necessitated the evolution o
 f robust defense strategies to protect against a wide array of microbial i
 nvaders. Whereas host responses to microbial colonization are extensively 
 explored in evolutionarily young land plant lineages such as angiosperms\,
  we know relatively little about plant-pathogen interactions in early-dive
 rging land plants thought to better represent the ancestral state. Here\, 
 we define the transcriptional and proteomic response of the early-divergen
 t liverwort Marchantia polymorpha to infection with the oomycete pathogen 
 Phytophthora palmivora . We uncover a robust molecular response to oomycet
 e colonization in Marchantia that consists of conserved land plant gene fa
 milies. Direct macroevolutionary comparisons of host infection responses i
 n Marchantia  and the model angiosperm Nicotiana benthamiana  further reve
 al a shared set of orthologous microbe-responsive genes that include membe
 rs of the phenylpropanoid metabolic pathway. In addition\, we identify a r
 ole for the Marchantia  R2R3-MYB transcription factor MpMyb14 in activatin
 g phenylpropanoid (flavonoid) biosynthesis during oomycete infection. Mpmy
 b14  mutants infected with P. palmivora  fail to activate phenylpropanoid 
 biosynthesis gene expression and display enhanced disease susceptibility c
 ompared to wild-type plants. Conversely\, the ectopic induction of MpMyb14
   led to the accumulation of anthocyanin-like pigments and dramatically en
 hanced liverwort resistance to P. palmivora  infection. Collectively\, our
  results demonstrate that the Marchantia  response to oomycete infection d
 isplays evolutionarily conserved features indicative of an ancestral patho
 gen deterrence strategy centered on phenylpropanoid-mediated biochemical d
 efenses.
LOCATION:Department of Plant Sciences\, Large Lecture Theatre
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