A Touchy Topic: The mechanical nature of plant pathogenesis
November 2024
- Datum: 19.11.2024
- Uhrzeit: 14:00 - 15:30
- Vortragende(r): Joris Sprakel
- Wageningen University & Research - Mechanobiology, The Netherlands
- Ort: Zentralgebäude
- Raum: Hörsaal
- Gastgeber: Arun Sampathkumar
Abstract
Plant pathogens generate enormous mechanical
forces to breach the exterior defenses of their hosts. Plants detect these
penetration forces and raise their mechanical defenses. The initial phases of
plant pathogenesis are an escalating battle at the wall. My lab studies this
process as a prime example of extreme mechanobiology. In host colonization,
mechanical signals orchestrate cellular processes to the correct location at
the right time. Despite being crucial for virulence, how pathogens and their
host plants organize mechanical signaling is almost entirely unknown—leaving a
mechanical perspective on controlling plant diseases untapped. In this talk, I
will discuss the mechanical strategies used by pathogens to pierce their hosts
and describe the existence of a penetration mechanostat (a mechanical
homeostat) that organizes touch-gated cell polarity and is essential for host
entry. Finally, I will discuss new, ongoing work and thoughts on the evolution
of touch perception and touch polarity across the eukaryotic domain, and what
this means for the molecular basis of mechanical signaling in the
plant-pathogen battle.