InteCue · Integration of volatile cues and plant peptide signals for enhanced herbivore resistance in tomato
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2021-03-01 → 2023-02-28
- EU contribution
- €191,149
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Integration of volatile cues and plant peptide signals for enhanced herbivore resistance in tomato
Insect herbivores are major pests causing severe yield losses in agriculture. They are great threat for food safety. Therefore, it is important to explore and exploit the arsenals plants have for self-protection, especially in a time urgently demanding sustainable agriculture. To breed new pest resistant crops and to develop efficient biocontrol strategies, we need to understand how plants sense different danger cues to initiate defense against insect herbivores. InteCue aims to address one important question: If and how plants integrate airborne volatile cues and vasculature transduced peptide signals in anti-herbivore defense. The main objectives of InteCue are: 1. Evaluating the capacity of plants to integrate volatile cues and plant peptide signals; 2. Dissecting the molecular mechanisms of potential signal integration. Research from InteCue shows that plants have different defensive strategies. Maize plants can combine volatile cues and plant peptide signals to start strong anti-herbivore defense, while tomato plants are not able to do so. InteCue has successfully achieved its major objectives. It has also created important resources for a deeper mechanistic understanding of plant volatile and peptide signaling integration.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Plants are often exposed to infestation by insect herbivores. How do they defend themselves to grow and reproduce? We know that plants can perceive volatile cues, emitted by insect infested neighboring plants, to generate faster and stronger defense responses upon subsequent herbivory. Plants can also sense peptide signals, induced by herbivory, to fight against herbivores. However, we know close to nothing about whether plants can integrate volatile cues and peptide signals for enhanced herbivore resistance. In InteCue, I will determine the capacity of tomato plants to integrate herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs) and the peptide systemin for enhanced defense responses against herbivores. I will also assess the direct impact of HIPVs on systemin signaling. Finally, I will explore the role of the systemin receptor SYR1 as a hub for HIPVs-systemin signal integration and regulation. As such, I aim to unravel the molecular mechanisms underpinning volatile and plant peptide signal integration and regulation in the context of plant-herbivore interactions. By combining my knowledge of peptide signaling, the expertise of chemical ecology and the unique platform for high throughput volatile profiling from the host lab, InteCue will advance our understanding of signal integration in plant-herbivore interactions. Ultimately, the new knowledge gained will lay the foundation of breeding pest resistant crops for sustainable agriculture.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- UNIVERSITAET BERN · BernCoordinatorSwitzerland
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union