Volatile-mediated communication between bacteria, plants, and plant pathogens
Description: Organisms communicate with each other through the exchange of chemical signals. Volatile compounds have been shown to play important roles in interkingdom interactions such as those occurring between plants and insects. In the last fifteen years, evidence has accumulated that bacteria also emit volatiles and that these compounds have strong biological effects on plants and their pathogens. However, the genetic basis of the biosynthesis of bacterial volatiles is still largely unknown, as are the factors regulating their emission. In addition, the chemical nature of the volatile-based communication between plant-associated bacteria, plants and plant pathogens and the mutual effects of each of the partners on the volatile emission of the two others are virtually unknown. This project’s overall goal is to fill these important knowledge gaps by using an interdisciplinary approach investigating the perspective of each partner in the tripartite interaction between bacteria, plants and plant pathogens. It specifically aims at answering basic scientific questions such as i) which genetic loci encode the biosynthesis and emission of disease-inhibiting volatiles in bacteria, ii) which volatiles are constitutively emitted by each partner and whether some volatiles are induced or repressed upon sensing of the volatiles emitted by the other partners, iii) what are the molecular targets of bacterial volatiles in plant pathogens, and iv) whether bacterial volatiles act as microbial signatures in plants and elicit defence responses. The project uses the potato-late blight (Phytophthora infestans) pathosystem as a model and builds on previously acquired expertise and material, e.g. on a set of nine fully sequenced and phenotypically characterized potato-associated Pseudomonas strains. It combines state-of-the-art but well-established methodology such as metabolomics (profiling of the volatilome using GC-MS) and transcriptomics (profiling of the transcriptome using RNA-Seq). Although fundamental in its nature, this project has a strong use-inspired component since it addresses a highly relevant and timely societal challenge: the need for more sustainable crop protection. In view of the increasing awareness of the deleterious side effects of fungicides and of a prospective ban of copper-based products at the European level, alternative solutions to control plant pathogens are urgently needed. A better understanding of the synthesis of plant protective bacterial volatiles and of the factors regulating their emission shall ultimately lead to the development of new, volatile-based crop protection strategies to reduce the impact of food production on human and environmental health.
Amount: CHF 641,800
Funding type: research
Funder scheme: Project funding
Start date: 2018-05-01
End date: 2022-04-30
Investigator: Weisskopf, Laure
Institution: University of Fribourg – FR
Funded outputs count: 22
Funder award ID: 179310
OpenAlex ID: G861237986