The role of Whirly proteins in transcriptional control of leaf senescence and cell death processes in Arabidopsis thaliana

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Senescence is the last phase of leaf development finally leading to death of the tissue. This phase of development is characterized by remobilization of nutrients and in crop plants limits yield when it is induced prematurely by stress. Its complex regulation has been mainly studied in Arabidopsis thaliana. It has been shown that transcription factors of the WRKY and NAC families have prominent roles in controlling the process. Our research has demonstrated that Whirly proteins constitute another family of transcription factors controlling senescence as well as cell death processes during pathogen infection whereby Whirly1 acts upstream of WRKY transcription factors. Moreover we showed that Whirly1 is an exceptional transcription factor with a dual location in the nucleus and plastids. The major goal of the project is to elucidate the molecular mechanism of the upstream regulation of WRKY transcription factors by Whirly1. Besides epigenetic factors, also the significance of Whirly1 interaction partners will be investigated.