Impact of crosstalk phenomena on the defense cis-regulatory landscape in Arabidopsis visualized with DNase-seq footprinting.

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To understand how the plethora of possible combinatorial interplays between transcription factors (TFs) and their cognate cis-elements coordinates plant hormone signaling pathways, a comprehensive view of the cis-regulatory landscape is required. This proposal requests funding for the dynamic mapping of TF in vivo footprints in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana utilizing DNase-seq footprinting with an emphasis on hormone crosstalk in defense responses. Plants de novo synthesize small signaling molecules called plant hormones upon pathogen infection in order to establish an adequate status of immunity. Depending on the lifestyle of the attacker, different hormones are employed to initiate the appropriate defense responses. Whereas salicylic acid (SA) is produced to effectively counteract biotrophic pathogens, the production of jasmonic acid (JA) and ethylene (ET) is essential to combat against necrotrophic pathogens. In case of concomitant infection of multiple pathogens with different lifestyles or pathogen-induced disturbances of the defense hormone homeostasis, plants require efficient crosstalk mechanisms between the hormone pathways to fine-tune their defense efforts and to avoid fitness losses. Mechanistic insights into the defense crosstalk machinery are still limited. To elucidate therefore how crosstalk phenomena between JA, ET and SA signaling are executed on the TF level, this project will generate the first dynamic surveys of the cis-regulatory architecture at the whole genome-level under different crosstalk conditions.