How does the circadian clock regulate disease resistance?

该项目研究了植物的生物钟（分子钟）如何在一天的不同时间改变对感染的易感性。这是一个令人兴奋的机会，在一个新的领域工作，学习一系列的现代实验和计算技能，并加入一个积极，热情的研究小组。研究将涉及遗传学、分子生物学、蛋白质组学、高通量酵母-2杂交、转录组学、病原体感染分析、基因组学、基因编辑和计算生物学。从蓝藻到植物和动物，几乎所有的生物都有生物钟。昼夜节律钟产生约24小时的节律，由每天的光和温度循环决定。这使得生物体能够预测有规律的日常事件，比如黎明和黄昏。对于不能移动的植物来说，生物钟对于使其新陈代谢与环境同步尤为重要。最近发现，生物钟也会影响植物的免疫力；在一天中不同时间接种的植物对病原体的敏感性不同。我们证明，与夜间接种相比，在黎明接种后，拟南芥植物对灰霉病菌（Botrytis cinerea）的抗性更强（Ingle et al. 2015Plant Journal）。植物在黎明或夜间接种时的敏感性差异是由植物的生物钟驱动的。植物的免疫反应涉及基因表达的显著变化，受转录因子调控的调控网络。在黎明接种后，这个防御网络被更快地激活，从而更有效地抵抗病原体。令人难以置信的是，防御反应失活的四小时差异导致疾病进展的巨大差异。时机就是一切！我们发现，激素（茉莉酸）信号通路中的单一蛋白质控制着白天疾病易感性的变化。这种蛋白，JAZ6，通过靶向转录因子起作用。我们现在想问的是，生物钟是如何通过JAZ6控制抗病能力的？jaz6依赖性疾病耐药范围有多广？JAZ6靶向调控网络中的哪些转录因子？防御网络的变化是如何引起疾病抵抗力增强的？jaz6活动的时间是什么？关键的是，我们想研究我们是否可以改变作物中的JAZ6，以更快地激活防御网络并增强抗病能力。JAZ6同源物存在于芸苔、生菜和番茄中（所有被番茄芽孢杆菌感染的作物），我们将使用基因编辑来测试JAZ6是否在这些作物中是时钟免疫调节因子。

This project investigates how a plant's circadian clock (molecular clock) altersits susceptibility to infection at different times of the day. It is an excitingopportunity to work in a new field, learn a range of modern experimental andcomputational skills and join an active, enthusiastic research group. Theresearch will involve genetics, molecular biology, proteomics, high-throughputyeast-2-hybrid, transcriptomics, pathogen infection assays, genomics, geneediting and computational biology.Almost all living organisms ranging from cyanobacteria to plants and animalspossess a circadian clock. The circadian clock generates an ~24 h rhythm that isset by daily cycles of light and temperature. This enables organisms toanticipate regular daily events such as dawn and dusk. For plants, which cannotmove, the circadian clock is particularly important to synchronise itsmetabolism with the environment. Recently it was discovered that the clockalso impacts plant immunity; plants inoculated at different times of the dayshow differing susceptibility to pathogens. We demonstrated that Arabidopsisplants showed greater resistance to Botrytis cinerea, a fungal pathogen, afterinoculation at dawn compared to inoculation during the night (Ingle et al. 2015Plant Journal). The difference in susceptibility when the plants are inoculated atdawn or night is driven by the plant circadian clock.The plant immune response involves significant changes in gene expressionregulated by transcription factors within a regulatory network. Afterinoculation at dawn this defence network is activated faster leading to moreeffective resistance against the pathogen. Incredibly a four-hour difference inactivation of the defence response leads to a dramatic difference in diseaseprogression. Timing is everything! We have found that a single protein in ahormone (jasmonic acid) signaling pathway controls the change in diseasesusceptibility during the day. This protein, JAZ6, works by targetingtranscription factors.We now want to ask how does the clock via JAZ6 control disease resistance?How broad is JAZ6-dependent disease resistance? What transcription factors inthe regulatory network does JAZ6 target? How do changes in the defencenetwork cause increased disease resistance? What is the timing of JAZ6activity?Critically we want to investigate whether we can alter JAZ6 in crop plants toactivate the defence network faster and enhance disease resistance. JAZ6orthologues are present in Brassica, lettuce and tomato (all crops infected by B.cinerea) and we will use gene editing to test whether JAZ6 is a clock-immunityregulator in these crops.