Date:
Location:
Ted Farmer
Professor
Université de Lausanne
"Long-Distance Electrical Signals in Arabidopsis Leaves"
Abstract: Most organisms that feed on living meals extract their food stealthily. Many herbivorous insects do this by cutting tissues with sharp mandibles and this minimizes gene expression distal to wounds. However, during the feeding process, signals from leaf wounds escape into distal plant tissues where they initiate the synthesis of potent defense-response mediators called jasmonates (JAs). How does leaf-to-leaf wound signalling occur? We found that feeding Spodoptera littoralis larvae elicited electrical activity that leads to JA accumulation in leaves distal to wounds. Several clade 3 GLUTAMATE RECEPTOR-LIKE genes that are necessary for the propagation of the signals were identified. We have used these genes to try to uncover the biological basis and natural function of long-distance electrical signals in plants.
Host: Holbrook Lab