Abstract:

Aims: Engineer plant oxylipin synthesis in vitro to assess their usefulness as 'green' antimicrobial and pesticidal chemoprotectants. Manipulate plant oxylipin biosynthesis in vivo to modify defence reactions for improved resistance to pests and pathogens.

Objectives: To produce an 'oxylipin tool kit' (recombinant enzymes and oxylipins in analytical quantities); to generate extensive knowledge on the in vivo role of oxylipins in plant-pest and -pathogen interactions by generating a series of transgenic lines in Arabidopsis with altered oxylipin metabolism through overexpression and/or antisense suppression of the biosynthetic genes; to apply the gained knowledge and tools to protect ornamental plants.

Outputs: Oxylipin tool kit; oxylipin profiles in wild type and transgenic Arabidopsis and Pelargonium plants; a collection of transgenic arabidopsis lines with altered oxylipin metabolism; and prototype transgenic lines of Pelargonium.

Objectives:

1. To produce a wide variety of oxylipins (oxygenated derivatives of polyunsaturated fatty acids) in large enough quantities for systematic evaluation of their chemoprotective properties.
2. To provide extensive information on alterations in oxylipin signatures of plants upon pest or pathogen challenge.
3. To generate a collection of transgenic Arabidopsis plants towards modification of oxylipin metabolism.
4. To analyse the consequences of manipulating oxylipin metabolic enzymes on oxylipin fluxes and profiles, plant gene expression and development, and resistance to pests and pathogens.
5. To test the efficacy of oxylipins as environmentally friendly chemoprotectants in greenhouse conditions.
6. To investigate the toxicology of selected oxylipins, and to formulate these compounds for application to soil-grown plants; to evaluate costs and marketability of candidate oxylipins.
7. To produce transgenic varieties from commercial Pelargonium with altered oxylipin metabolism.

Contacts

Coordinator

• Mariano ESTEBAN RODRIGUEZ / Centro Nacional de Biotecnologia CNB / SPAIN

Participant

• Marius J A DE BIE / Bijvoet center for biomolecular research Department of bio-organic chemistry / NETHERLANDS
• Jose Alberto TORRES / Fundacion Promiva Research and Development / SPAIN
• Patrick MARTIN / Horticulture Research International Dept of Pathology & Microbiology / UNITED KINGDOM
• Dierk SCHEEL / Institute of Plant Biochemistry GERMANY
• Ulrich WOBUS / Institute of Plant Genetics Department of Moleculare Cell Biology / GERMANY
• Mary ANDERSON / J L DICKS / John Innes Centre Department of Applied Genetics / UNITED KINGDOM
• Mats HAMBERG / Karolinska Institutet Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics / SWEDEN
• Raymond BASTIDE / Université Paul Sabatier FRANCE