EXPLORING ADAPTIVE IMMUNITY IN PLANTS

在为生存而斗争的过程中，植物强烈依赖诱导防御机制。当植物受到有害病原体或昆虫的攻击时，这些防御反应就会被激活。诱导防御涉及一系列不同的化学和物理防御屏障，从诱导针对攻击者生理的有毒代谢物，到防止病原真菌入侵的细胞壁对位。尽管防御策略如此多样化，但可诱导的防御武器库并不总是足以保护植物免受病原体和昆虫的入侵。这就是为什么植物进化出了一种额外的、更复杂的防御系统，使它们能够微调它们的诱导防御系统。在感知到特定的环境线索后，植物可以增强防御能力，这对非常广泛的不同压力是有效的。有趣的是，这种诱导抗性并不是基于诱导剂的直接防御激活，而是基于植物暴露在逆境中时诱导防御机制的更快和更强的激活。这种防御的敏感化被称为“引爆”。由于启动使植物能够调整其诱导防御系统以适应环境条件，因此它可以被视为一种适应性免疫。有趣的是，通过引爆刺激植物的适应性免疫系统已经被证明产生广谱抗性，而对植物生长和结实的影响最小。这表明植物适应性免疫具有重要的生态功能，它提高了植物在恶劣环境中生存的能力。这项研究的主要目的是1)发现植物利用其适应性免疫系统的新的关键机制，以及2)批判性地评估适应性免疫在田间条件下为植物提供的生态优势。为此，将采用多学科方法，使用分子生物学、植物生理学和植物生态学领域的最新技术。该项目的成果将有助于未来在可持续农业中开发植物适应性免疫。

In their struggle for life, plants strongly rely on inducible defense mechanisms. These defense responses become activated when a plant is attacked by harmful pathogens or insects. Induced defence involves a wide spectrum of different chemical and physical defence barriers, ranging from the induction of toxic metabolites that target the attacker's physiology, to cell wall appositions that prevent invasions by pathogenic fungi. Despite this diversity in defensive strategies, the inducible defense arsenal is not always sufficient to protect the plant against intrusion by pathogens and insects. This is why plants have evolved an additional, more sophisticated, defense system that allows them to fine-tune their inducible defense system. Upon perception of specific environmental cues, plants can develop an enhanced defensive capacity that is effective against a remarkably wide range of different stresses. Interestingly, this induced resistance is not based on direct defence activation by the inducing agent, but on a faster and stronger activation of inducible defence mechanisms at the moment the plant is exposed to stress. This sensitization for defence is called 'priming'. Because priming allows the plant to adjust its inducible defence system to the environmental conditions, it can be regarded as a form of adaptive immunity. Interestingly, stimulation of the plant's adaptive immune system through priming has already been shown to yield broad-spectrum resistance with minimal reductions in plant growth and seed set. This suggests an important ecological function of plant adaptive immunity, which increases the plant's ability to survive in hostile environments. The main objectives of this research proposal are to 1) discover novel key mechanisms by which plants exploit their adaptive immune system, and 2) critically evaluate the ecological advantages that adaptive immunity provides for plants under field conditions. To this end, a multidisciplinary approach will be followed, using state-of-the-art techniques in the field of molecular biology, plant physiology and plant ecology. The outcome of this project will be instrumental for future exploitations of plant adaptive immunity in sustainable agriculture.