RII Track-4:NSF:Chloroplast retrograde signaling during plant immunity: integrating signal transduction and cellular dynamics

植物能够通过一个复杂的防御系统来对抗潜在的病原体，这个防御系统涉及细胞内的多个隔间。其中一种隔室是叶绿体，它除了参与光合作用外，还产生信号分子，打开细胞核中的基因，这一过程被称为逆行信号传导。这个研究基础设施改善RII Track-4奖学金将研究活细胞中的叶绿体逆行信号如何在植物免疫过程中起作用，以及病原体如何干扰这一过程。这项研究需要在主办机构唐纳德丹福斯植物科学中心提供先进的显微镜仪器，研究将在那里进行。本研究将为一名西班牙裔女教师和一名西班牙裔研究生提供培训机会。从该项目中获得的知识将为制定战略提供信息，以加强植物防御反应，控制植物病害并减少其经济和社会影响。叶绿体是植物免疫系统中重要的细胞器，既是防御信号分子的来源，也是防御反应的主要调节因子。为了应对病原体，叶绿体在细胞核周围重新定位，可能是为了促进逆行信号，这是一个由叶绿体中产生的信号分子激活细胞核中基因表达的过程。虽然逆行信号已经被发现，但它在植物免疫过程中的作用尚不完全清楚。本研究的主要目标是通过以下途径来分析植物免疫过程中与叶绿体逆行信号相关的细胞和调控事件：1)描述不同生活方式的细菌病原体如何影响叶绿体动力学；2)表征与植物防御反应相关的叶绿体-核通讯；3)评估信号依赖基因的原位表达。该研究建议需要先进的实时成像技术来监测细菌病原体感染后叶绿体动力学和叶绿体介导的反应。这项研究将提供与植物免疫相关的细胞过程的更深层次的理解，使指导策略控制植物疾病。此外，这项研究将促进阿肯色州活细胞成像技术的发展。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Plants are able to fight potential pathogens through a complex defense system that involves multiple compartments inside the cell. One type of compartment is the chloroplast, which in addition to participating in photosynthesis, also generates signaling molecules that turn on genes in the nucleus, a process known as retrograde signaling. This Research Infrastructure Improvement RII Track-4 fellowship will investigate how chloroplast retrograde signaling in living cells operates during plant immunity, and how pathogens interfere with this process. This research requires advanced microscopy instruments available at the host institution, The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, where the research will be conducted. This research will provide training opportunities for a Hispanic female faculty and a Hispanic graduate student. The knowledge gained from this project will inform the development of strategies to enhance plant defense responses to control plant diseases and reduce their economic and societal impact. Chloroplasts have emerged as important organelles in plant immunity, both as a source of defense signaling molecules, and as major regulators of defense responses. In response to pathogens, chloroplasts re-localize around the nucleus, presumably to facilitate retrograde signaling, a process by which signaling molecules originating in chloroplasts activate gene expression in the nucleus. While retrograde signaling has been recognized, it is not fully understood how it operates during plant immunity. The main goal of this fellowship is to dissect the cellular and regulatory events associated with chloroplast retrograde signaling during plant immunity by 1) delineating how bacterial pathogens with distinct lifestyles impact chloroplast dynamics, 2) characterizing the chloroplast-nuclear communication associated with plant defense responses, and 3) evaluating signal-dependent gene expression in situ. The research proposed requires advanced live-imaging technologies to monitor chloroplast dynamics and chloroplast-mediated responses after infection with bacterial pathogens. This research will provide deeper understanding of the cellular processes associated with plant immunity to enable guided strategies to control plant diseases. Moreover, this research will facilitate advancing live-cell imaging technologies in Arkansas.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.