Current Research (PhD Thesis):
Versatile stress-inducible regulatory mechanisms evolved to trigger and maintain plant defenses only when needed, thus reducing their cost. Induction of defense genes against herbivores in Arabidopsis plants is controlled by protein repressors named JAZ (from Jasmonate-Associated ZIM domain). These repressors are degraded upon recognition of wound- and herbivory-associated signals, causing rapid transcriptional activation of defense-related genes. I will use molecular experimental approaches to examine JAZ regulatory mechanisms in native tobacco (Nicotiana attenuata), a species revealing robust defenses against herbivores, used as model for plant-herbivore interactions. Using combinations of molecular and ecological approaches, I will (1) clone JAZ repressor genes from wild tobacco, (2) inactivate individual JAZ repressors using RNA-silencing approach to uncover JAZ-regulated defense mechanisms in N. attenuata, and (3) study N. attenuata plants with silenced JAZ repressors in their natural habitat (Utah, USA) to determine the costs of uncontrolled defenses for plant fitness in nature. As part of the project, additional regulatory mechanisms involved in control of plant defenses against herbivores will be examined, for example the function of transcription factors controlled by JAZ repressors. |
