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Co-sponsored with the Department of Biochemistry

Precision in plant immune expression: Not lost in translation

Xinnian Dong, Ph.D.Arts and Sciences Professor of Biology Duke University

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2017 | 3:30 PM | HORT 117

Because plants are sessile organisms without specialized immune cells, defense occurs in coordination with growth-related activities within the organism and with environmental conditions, such as light, temperature and humidity. Therefore, we cannot fully understand plant immunity by studying it in isolation. Besides the cell-autonomous pattern-triggered immunity (PTI) mediated by surface-localized pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), and effector-triggered immunity (ETI) mediated by intracellular nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat (NB-LRR) immune receptors, plants can also mount systemic acquired resistance (SAR) through production of the immune hormone, salicylic acid (SA). A major gap in our knowledge of the plant defense response is an understanding of how these three distinct types of defense responses are interrelated in coordination with the environment. In my talk, I will present our discoveries on the interplay between plant immune responses, the redox rhythm and the circadian clock and explain how transcription and translation of defense genes are regulated to mount effective immune responses with minimal fitness cost.