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SUMMARY:Phyt or Blight  - Ruth Le Fevre
DTSTART:20130502T150000Z
DTEND:20130502T153000Z
UID:TALK44279@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Megan Cooper
DESCRIPTION:Phytate is the most abundant inositol phosphate in plants. It 
 chelates strongly with mineral cations (such as Fe2+/3+\, Ca2+ etc) and ac
 cumulates to high levels in seeds and tubers\, providing a source of nutri
 ents for growth and development during germination. Unfortunately the high
  phosphate content and mineral chelating characteristics that make it so u
 seful for plants can make it damaging to the environment and human health.
  Phytate cannot be digested by non-ruminant animals such as pigs and chick
 ens and agricultural run-off can cause eutrophication of waterways. In hum
 ans\, the strong chelating ability of phytate can inhibit uptake of key mi
 cronutrients leading to malnutrition. These issues have prompted the devel
 opment of low-phytate crops in recent years. However\, engineering reduced
  phytate levels to abate its negative effects may have unforeseen fitness 
 consequences.\n\nPrevious work in arabidopsis has implicated phytate in ma
 intenance of basal resistance to viral\, bacterial and fungal pathogens. T
 o test whether this also applies in a crop plant the final enzyme in phyta
 te biosynthesis (IPK)\, was knocked down in potato using RNAi and the resi
 stance of the resulting low-phytate plants tested using a variety of patho
 gens. Ny gene (NB-LRR type) mediated hypersensitive response to the ordina
 ry strain of Potato Virus Y is impaired in the low-phytate potato lines an
 d there is greater viral movement to systemic leaves suggesting resistance
  to this virus is decreased. Preliminary results from Tobacco Mosaic Virus
  inoculations on tobacco plants (Xanthi genotype NN) transiently expressin
 g the potato IPK-RNAi construct also showed an impaired N-gene mediated hy
 persensitive response. This implies the role of phytate in major gene resi
 stance may be conserved between plant species and this work reinforces the
  role of phytate as a key regulator of disease resistance mechanisms in pl
 ants.\n
LOCATION:Biffen Lecture Theater\, Department of Genetics
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