Refactored SA-signaling for tunable defense 
O. DE LANGE (1), A. Khakhar (2), J. Nemhauser (2), E. Klavins (2) (1) The University of Washington, U.S.A.; (2) The University of Washington, U.S.A.

We would like to introduce novel control points into the plant immune system to facilitate tuning of defense responses.   Salicylic acid (SA) is a master regulator of local and systemic immunity to biotrophic pathogens, and we are working to render both the perception of SA and its outputs amenable to user-control. Acting through master transcription factor NPR1, SA controls expression of defense proteins as well as suppressing competing pathways within the cell. SA binds NPR1 to activate its function as a transcriptional co-activator. We have used this property to create synthetic SA-inducible transcription factors able to regulate user-defined promoters. SA concentration also defines the degradation rate of NPR1 within the cell by acting through E3-ubiquitin-ligases NPR3 and NPR4. This has been proposed to define the size of immune responses within a tissue by means of an SA-concentration gradient. We have recapitulated elements this pathway in yeast to create a a testbed for the design of novel immune-patterning systems. 

Abstract Number: P16-446
Session Type: Poster