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SUMMARY:Role of phytic acid in plant defence responses - Jacquelyne Poon\,
  3rd yr grad
DTSTART:20150709T120000Z
DTEND:20150709T123000Z
UID:TALK58784@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Megan Cooper
DESCRIPTION:Low phytic acid (inositol hexakisphosphate\, InsP6) plants are
  being generated because InsP6 is regarded as an anti-nutrient factor and 
 as a cause of eutrophication. However\, the importance of InsP6 might be o
 verlooked as it is involved in other plant pathways\, including basal defe
 nce responses against pathogens. In order to understand the role(s) of ino
 sitol polyphosphates in plant defence\, I am manipulating critical steps i
 n InsP6 biosynthesis using Arabidopsis thaliana mutants with decreased exp
 ression of AtIPK1 (Inositol Pentakisphosphate Kinase) and AtIPS (Inositol 
 Phosphate Synthase). As T-DNA insertion mutants for a third member of the 
 AtIPS gene family\, AtIPS3\, had not been tested\, atips3 mutant plants we
 re challenged with Pseudomonas syringae pv tomato and found to be more sus
 ceptible to bacterial infection than wild-type plants. I found that the at
 ips mutants and atipk1 mutant plants were not compromised in exhibiting sy
 stemic acquired resistance\, while only the atipk1 mutant was impaired in 
 mounting local flg22-induced resistance. This suggested an additional role
  of InsP6 in local defence responses. When I compared phenotypes elicited 
 by the bacterial flagellin peptide flg22\, the atipk1 mutant was similar t
 o the wild-type in the trigger of oxidative bursts\, inhibition of seedlin
 g growth\, and the expression of marker genes. I tested whether an elevati
 on of InsP6 would increase pathogen resistance and surprisingly found that
  overexpression of AtIPK1 led to a greater susceptibility to bacterial inf
 ection. The levels of InsP6 in these plants are currently being tested.
LOCATION:Department of Plant Sciences\, Large Lecture Theatre
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