[Seminars] PSB event reminder

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Calendar Name: seminars
Scheduled for: Tuesday, April 2 2013, 14:00 - 15:30
Event text:    Dr Peter Bozhkov
	       
	       Department of Plant Biology and Forest Genetics 
	       Uppsala BioCenter 
	       Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences 
	       and Linnean Center for Plant Biology
	       
	       Uppsala
	       SWEDEN
Details:       “Autophagy: a common mediator of cell death and
	       organismal longevity in plants”
	       
	       ABSTRACT
	       Animals have evolved sophisticated machinery to remove
	       apoptotic bodies and clean up necrotic debris for
	       damping inflammatory response. Plants appear more
	       pragmatic, as they utilize dying cells and cell corpses
	       to construct their bodies, as well as to store and
	       transport nutrients, growth factors, and secondary
	       metabolites. The presence of rigid cell walls and the
	       absence of phagocytosis permit cell corpses to stay
	       post-mortem for a very long time. Disassembly of plant
	       cells during developmental programmed cell death (PCD)
	       is likewise a slow process, which can take up to several
	       days. This mode of PCD is reliant on the gradual
	       engulfment of the cytoplasm by the lytic vacuoles and is
	       hence called vacuolar cell death. We have found that
	       autophagy – a major cellular catabolic process - plays a
	       central role in the execution of vacuolar cell death in
	       the Norway spruce embryo-suspensors. The role of
	       autophagy is cell-autonomous, since down-regulation of
	       ATG genes specifically in the suspensor cells acts as a
	       switch from vacuolar cell death to necrosis, which
	       impairs embryonic patterning and leads to developmental
	       arrest.	
	       It has become well known in the last few years that
	       yeasts, worms, flies and mammals with enhanced level of
	       basal autophagy live longer, whereas suppression of
	       autophagy results in premature death or shortened
	       lifespan. Current studies in my laboratory establish
	       autophagy as an important process in the control of
	       plant phenology and longevity. We have found that
	       changes in the expression of some ATG genes can modulate
	       autophagic flux in the leaves of Arabidopsis, which in
	       turn affects phenology and lifespan of the plants.
	       Interestingly, manipulation of both autophagic flux and
	       organismal lifespan can also be achieved in wild type
	       Columbia plants by changing their caloric status through
	       increasing or decreasing light intensity.

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