Lecture at the University of Utrecht, Netherlands

In February, Stephan is invited to give a lecture at the Institute of Environmental Biology (IEB) of the University of Utrecht, Netherlands. Very much looking forward to catch up with old friends there.

Title:

Finding balance to optimize plant fitness

Summary:

Plants are highly prone to injury by pathogens, herbivores, and mechanical stresses jeopardizing their tissue integrity. In order to maintain fitness, plants have to adequately respond to these threats. In this, they largely rely on plant hormone crosstalk and a complex signal transduction network that connects damage-associated signals with appropriate adjustments of metabolic processes in the short-term and changes in plant growth and development in the long-term. These wound-induced adaptive responses are nearly exclusively triggered by de novo biosynthesis of the plant hormone jasmonate (JA). However, recently we were able to demonstrate that auxin is tightly linked to this processes. Here, we report on our newest results disclosing the function of induced auxin biosynthesis in response to plant wounding and present a novel molecular link that connects the energy status of the plant with auxin levels and defence fitness.