Role and regulation of specialized metabolites in a permanent plant-bacterium symbiosis

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Various plant species have evolved permanent or obligate associations with bacteria in their leaves. The synthesis of specialized metabolites by the symbiotic bacteria is a near universal feature of these symbioses. Yet, we know little of the functional roles of these metabolites, or the spatial and temporal signaling events that govern these associations. The objective of RESIDE is to leverage a uniquely tractable leaf symbiosis to test the hypothesis that bacterial metabolism contributes to plant defense against herbivores and competitors. This will be achieved via isolation and characterization of the chemical and molecular signals between the symbiotic partners. The complementary expertise of the French and German groups in the microbiology and natural product chemistry of plant symbioses provide the ideal frame to address the exciting question of how plants control the transmission, colonization and function of microbes at the leaf surface.