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SUMMARY:Universal mechanisms mediating the early response of plant roots t
 o environmental stresses - Professor Xu Jian
DTSTART:20130731T130000Z
DTEND:20130731T140000Z
UID:TALK46389@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Janette Roberts
DESCRIPTION:\nAbiotic stress\, a result of common adverse environmental si
 tuations\, represents the most limiting factor for agricultural productivi
 ty worldwide. Stresses associated with temperature\, drought and salinity\
 , singly or in combination\, are likely to enhance the severity of problem
 s to which plants will be exposed in the coming decades. The sessile natur
 e of plants necessitates their ability to respond to diverse conventional 
 and newly-emerged abiotic stresses from the environment throughout their l
 ife cycle. Currently\, key insights into the mechanisms that enable plants
  to execute appropriate adaptive physiological and developmental responses
  remain myopic.\nRoots deliver water and nutrients\, two of the most essen
 tial\, but often-limiting factors that a plant needs. Their close proximit
 y to the soil suggests that roots could be the sites for initial environme
 ntal stress perception and subsequent adaptive responses. The identificati
 on of orthologous genes controlling the same aspect of root development in
  several distantly related species has indicated the existence of conserve
 d mechanisms in root development for all plant species\, and underscores t
 he importance of Arabidopsis root research with respect to further potenti
 al strategies for improvement of crop roots\, which have recently emerged 
 as the key to a Second Green Revolution.\nOf the five major plant hormones
 \, ABA is particularly interesting because its levels have been reported t
 o peak shortly upon stress exposure\, uncommon to others. It has been well
  established that ABA\, as a stress hormone\, plays a pivotal role in phys
 iological responses to abiotic stresses such as light\, cold\, drought and
  high salinity\, in addition to its central role in seed development\, dor
 mancy\, and germination\, and plant pathogen defense. Unfortunately\, desp
 ite its key involvement in plants and great advances in the areas of plant
  physiology\, protein structural biology and molecular genetics\, there re
 mains a gap in the current understanding of the initial ABA response\, its
  downstream processes and potential crosstalk with other growth regulators
  at the developmental\, cellular and sub-cellular levels. To bridge this g
 ap\, and in view of findings on the antagonistic interactions between ABA 
 and other plant hormones such as auxin and gibberellin during various deve
 lopmental processes\, we are currently exploring if ABA acts as the primar
 y stress-activated hormone in triggering other growth regulators using the
  root system of Arabidopsis thaliana as a research model. We aim to reveal
  universal mechanisms controlling hormonal-interaction at different cell l
 ayers and in cells at different developmental stages in early response to 
 various environmental stresses. Our recent progress will be presented and 
 discussed.\n
LOCATION:Auditorium of The Sainsbury Laboratory (Bateman Street)
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