October 2010 - Seminars - maillist.psb.ugent.be

PSB event reminder
by contact＠psb.vib-ugent.be 25 Oct '10

25 Oct '10

Calendar Name: seminars Scheduled for: Monday, October 25 2010, 14:00 - 15:30 Event text: Alison M. Smith John Innes Centre Norwich UK Details: "How plants survive the night" ABSTRACT Although plants make sugars from atmospheric carbon dioxide in the process of photosynthesis, they face problems of carbohydrate supply on a daily basis. First, most of the cells in a plant are heterotrophic � dependent for their carbon supply on carbohydrate (in the form of sucrose) imported from the relatively small number of photosynthetic cells in the leaves. Second, plants can photosynthesise only during the day - every night all of the cells of the plant become dependent upon the mobilisation of carbohydrate (in the form of starch) synthesised and stored during the day. Mutant plants that cannot synthesise starch during the day or cannot degrade it at night usually have reduced growth rates. My lab is trying to understand the diurnal control of starch storage and mobilisation in leaves of the model plant Arabidopsis, using forward and reverse genetic approaches. I will present our progress in defining the surprisingly complex pathway of starch degradation at night, and discuss how flux through this pathway is controlled to ensure that supplies of carbohydrate last until dawn. Our recent work shows that the circadian clock plays a central role in controlling carbohydrate availability at night, and this in turn determines the overall productivity of the plant. Finally I will describe unexpected findings about the ways in which non-photosynthetic cells mobilise the sucrose they receive from the leaves.

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PSB event reminder
by contact＠psb.vib-ugent.be 23 Oct '10

23 Oct '10

Calendar Name: seminars Scheduled for: Monday, October 25 2010, 14:00 - 15:30 Event text: Alison M. Smith John Innes Centre Norwich UK Details: "How plants survive the night" ABSTRACT Although plants make sugars from atmospheric carbon dioxide in the process of photosynthesis, they face problems of carbohydrate supply on a daily basis. First, most of the cells in a plant are heterotrophic � dependent for their carbon supply on carbohydrate (in the form of sucrose) imported from the relatively small number of photosynthetic cells in the leaves. Second, plants can photosynthesise only during the day - every night all of the cells of the plant become dependent upon the mobilisation of carbohydrate (in the form of starch) synthesised and stored during the day. Mutant plants that cannot synthesise starch during the day or cannot degrade it at night usually have reduced growth rates. My lab is trying to understand the diurnal control of starch storage and mobilisation in leaves of the model plant Arabidopsis, using forward and reverse genetic approaches. I will present our progress in defining the surprisingly complex pathway of starch degradation at night, and discuss how flux through this pathway is controlled to ensure that supplies of carbohydrate last until dawn. Our recent work shows that the circadian clock plays a central role in controlling carbohydrate availability at night, and this in turn determines the overall productivity of the plant. Finally I will describe unexpected findings about the ways in which non-photosynthetic cells mobilise the sucrose they receive from the leaves.

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PSB event reminder
by contact＠psb.vib-ugent.be 12 Oct '10

12 Oct '10

Calendar Name: seminars Scheduled for: Tuesday, October 12 2010, 11:00 - 12:30 Event text: Prof Corn� Pieterse Plant Microbe Interactions Department of Biology Faculty of Science Utrecht University Utrecht the Netherlands Details: "Plant immunity: it�s the hormones talking, but what do they say?" ABSTRACT Plants live in complex environments in which they intimately interact with a broad range of other organisms. Besides the plethora of deleterious interactions with pathogens and insect herbivores, relationships with beneficial microorganisms are frequent in nature as well, improving plant growth or helping the plant to overcome stress. The evolutionary arms race between plants and their enemies provided plants with a highly sophisticated defense system that, like the animal innate immune system, recognizes non-self molecules or signals from injured cells, and responds by activating an effective immune response against the invader encountered. Recent advances in plant immunity research underpin the pivotal role of cross-communicating hormones in the regulation of the plant�s defense signaling network. Their powerful regulatory potential allows the plant to quickly adapt to its hostile environment and to utilize its resources in a cost-efficient manner. Plant enemies on the other hand, can hijack the plant�s defense signaling network for their own benefit by affecting hormone homeostasis to antagonize the host immune response. Similarly, beneficial microbes actively interfere with hormone-regulated immune responses to avoid being recognized as an alien organism. In nature, plants simultaneously or sequentially interact with multiple beneficial and antagonistic organisms with very different lifestyles. However, knowledge on how the hormone-regulated plant immune signaling network functions during multi-species interactions is still in its infancy. In the past years, various genomics approaches expanded our understanding of the molecular mechanisms by which plants tailor their defense response to pathogen and insect attack. Diverse hormones such as salicylic acid (SA), jasmonic acid (JA) and ethylene (ET) play pivotal roles in the regulation of the defense signaling network. Our research is focused on the molecular interplay between these hormones and how their interactions steer the final outcome of the plant immune response.

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PSB event reminder
by contact＠psb.vib-ugent.be 10 Oct '10

10 Oct '10

Calendar Name: seminars Scheduled for: Tuesday, October 12 2010, 11:00 - 12:30 Event text: Prof Corn� Pieterse Plant Microbe Interactions Department of Biology Faculty of Science Utrecht University Utrecht the Netherlands Details: "Plant immunity: it�s the hormones talking, but what do they say?" ABSTRACT Plants live in complex environments in which they intimately interact with a broad range of other organisms. Besides the plethora of deleterious interactions with pathogens and insect herbivores, relationships with beneficial microorganisms are frequent in nature as well, improving plant growth or helping the plant to overcome stress. The evolutionary arms race between plants and their enemies provided plants with a highly sophisticated defense system that, like the animal innate immune system, recognizes non-self molecules or signals from injured cells, and responds by activating an effective immune response against the invader encountered. Recent advances in plant immunity research underpin the pivotal role of cross-communicating hormones in the regulation of the plant�s defense signaling network. Their powerful regulatory potential allows the plant to quickly adapt to its hostile environment and to utilize its resources in a cost-efficient manner. Plant enemies on the other hand, can hijack the plant�s defense signaling network for their own benefit by affecting hormone homeostasis to antagonize the host immune response. Similarly, beneficial microbes actively interfere with hormone-regulated immune responses to avoid being recognized as an alien organism. In nature, plants simultaneously or sequentially interact with multiple beneficial and antagonistic organisms with very different lifestyles. However, knowledge on how the hormone-regulated plant immune signaling network functions during multi-species interactions is still in its infancy. In the past years, various genomics approaches expanded our understanding of the molecular mechanisms by which plants tailor their defense response to pathogen and insect attack. Diverse hormones such as salicylic acid (SA), jasmonic acid (JA) and ethylene (ET) play pivotal roles in the regulation of the defense signaling network. Our research is focused on the molecular interplay between these hormones and how their interactions steer the final outcome of the plant immune response.

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FW: meetings Prof Alison Smith
by Nathalie Vanden Hautte 01 Oct '10

01 Oct '10

REMINDER From: Nathalie Vanden Hautte Sent: woensdag 29 september 2010 10:04 To: 'pi(a)psb.vib-ugent.be' Subject: meetings Prof Alison Smith Dear All Enclosed you can find the announcement and abstract of Prof Alison Smith's seminar on Monday, October 25. Please contact me if you would like to have a meeting with Prof Smith. Thank you in advance! Nathalie ____________________________________________ Nathalie Vanden Hautte Administrative Assistant VIB, Department of Plant Systems Biology Ghent University Technologiepark 927 9052 Gent Belgium Phone: +32/9/33.13.800 Fax: +32/33.13.809 Http://www.psb.ugent.be nahau(a)psb.vib-ugent.be

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