Biology subjects

Griebel, T.

Publications and source records attributed to Griebel, T..

5 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2024

Cold exposure transiently increases resistance of Arabidopsis thaliana against the fungal pathogen Botrytis cinerea

A sudden cold exposure (4{degrees}C, 24 h) primes resistance of Arabidopsis thaliana against the virulent biotrophic pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 (Pst) for several days. This effect is mediated by chloroplast cold sensing and the activity of stromal and thylakoid-bound ascorbate peroxidases (sAPX/tAPX). In this study, we investigated the impact of such cold exposure on plant defence against the necrotrophic fungus Botrytis cinerea. Plant resistance was transiently enhanced if the B. cinerea infection occurred immediately after the cold exposure, but this cold-enhanced B. cinerea resistance was absent when the cold treatment and the infection were separated by 5 days at normal growth conditions. Plastid ascorbate peroxidases partially contributed to the transient cold-enhanced resistance against the necrotrophic fungus. In response to B. cinerea, the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) were significantly higher in cold-pretreated Arabidopsis leaves. Pathogen-triggered ROS levels varied in the absence of sAPX, highlighting the strong capacity for sAPX-dependent ROS regulation in the chloroplast stroma. The cold-enhanced resistance against B. cinerea was associated with cold-induced plant cell wall modifications, including sAPX-dependent callose formation and significant lignification in cold-treated Arabidopsis leaves. FundingThis work was supported by the German Research Foundation (CRC973/C4) and the FU Berlin.

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2021

Arabidopsis Topless-related 1 mitigates physiological damage and growth penalties of induced immunity

Transcriptional corepressors of the Topless family are important regulators of plant hormone and immunity signaling. The lack of a genome-wide profile of their chromatin associations limits understanding of transcriptional regulation in plant immune responses. Chromatin immunoprecipitation with sequencing (ChIP-seq) was performed on GFP-tagged Topless-related 1 (TPR1) expressed in Arabidopsis thaliana lines with and without constitutive immunity dependent on Enhanced Disease Susceptibility 1 (EDS1). RNA-seq profiling of pathogen-infected tpl/tpr mutants and assessments of growth and physiological parameters were employed to determine TPL/TPR roles in transcriptional immunity and defense homeostasis. TPR1 bound to promoter regions of ~1,400 genes and ~10% of the detected binding required EDS1 immunity signaling. A tpr1 tpl tpr4 (t3) mutant displayed mildly enhanced defense-related transcriptional reprogramming upon bacterial infection but not increased bacterial resistance. Bacteria or pep1 phytocytokine-challenged t3 plants exhibited, respectively, photosystem II dysfunction and exacerbated root growth inhibition. Transgenic expression of TPR1 restored the t3 physiological defects. We propose that TPR1 and TPL-family proteins function in Arabidopsis to reduce detrimental effects associated with activated transcriptional immunity.

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2020

Downy Mildew effector HaRxL21 interacts with the transcriptional repressor TOPLESS to promote pathogen susceptibility

Hyaloperonospora arabidopsidis (Hpa) is an oomycete pathogen causing Arabidopsis downy mildew. Effector proteins secreted from the pathogen into the plant play key roles in promoting infection by suppressing plant immunity and manipulating the host to the pathogens advantage. One class of oomycete effectors share a conserved RxLR motif critical for their translocation into the host cell. Here we characterize the interaction between an RxLR effector, HaRxL21 (RxL21), and the Arabidopsis transcriptional co-repressor Topless (TPL). We establish that RxL21 and TPL interact via an EAR motif at the C-terminus of the effector, mimicking the host plant mechanism for recruiting TPL to sites of transcriptional repression. We show that this motif, and hence interaction with TPL, is necessary for the virulence function of the effector. Furthermore, we provide evidence that RxL21 uses the interaction with TPL, and its close relative TPL-related 1, to repress plant immunity and enhance host susceptibility to both biotrophic and necrotrophic pathogens.

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2020

Genome-wide chromatin binding of transcriptional corepressor Topless-related 1 in Arabidopsis

Timely and specific regulation of gene expression is critical for plant responses to environmental and developmental cues. Transcriptional coregulators have emerged as important factors in gene expression control, although they lack DNA-binding domains and the mechanisms by which they are recruited to and function at the chromatin are poorly understood. Plant Topless-related 1 (TPR1), belonging to a family of transcriptional corepressors found across eukaryotes, contributes to immunity signaling in Arabidopsis thaliana and wild tobacco. We performed chromatin immunoprecipitation and sequencing (ChIP-seq) on an Arabidopsis TPR1-GFP expressing transgenic line to characterize genome-wide TPR1-chromatin associations. The analysis revealed [~]1400 genes bound by TPR1, with the majority of binding sites located at gene upstream regions. Among the TPR1 bound genes, we find not only regulators of immunity but also genes controlling growth and development. To support further analysis of TPR1-chromatin complexes and other transcriptional corepressors in plants, we provide two ways to access the processed ChIP-seq data and enable their broader use by the research community.

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2020

Cold priming memory reduces plant pathogen susceptibility based on a functional plastid peroxidase system

Chloroplasts, as recently shown, serve as cold priming hubs in modulating the transcriptional response of Arabidopsis thaliana to a second cold stimulus after a stress-free interphase of several days. Here, we studied if such a single 24 h cold stress at 4 {degrees}C also alters the susceptibility of Arabidopsis to virulent Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000. Our data show that cold priming did not only increase resistance of Arabidopsis to a subsequent infection immediately, but also after a memory phase of 5 days, during which thylakoid ascorbate peroxidases accumulate. Contrasting to susceptibility, the prior cold exposure did not alter resistance against avirulent and effector-triggered immunity-inducing Pseudomonas syringae strains. The effect of cold priming on the plant pathogen susceptibility was independent of the central nucleo-cytoplasmic immune regulator EDS1 (Enhanced Disease Susceptibility 1) and uncoupled from classical immune gene activation. The priming benefits against pathogens required thylakoid and stromal ascorbate peroxidase activity. Combinatorial priming of Arabidopsis pathogen susceptibility by metastable regulation of stromal ascorbate peroxidase activity and post-cold expression of thylakoid ascorbate peroxidase guarantees immediate protection without latency time and prolonged protection by the memory element that regulates future cold responses. One-sentence summary24 hour cold exposure reduces plant susceptibility against virulent pathogens dependent on chloroplast ascorbate peroxidases.

plant biology↗