Discovery Could Lead to more Pest-Resistant Crops.
A lab group in the Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering Division of KAUST has identified a protein needed by plants to mount proper defences against environmental pathogens. The role of protein MAP4K4 helps explain the tight control of immune signalling in plants and reveals targets in a molecular pathway that could be manipulated by crop breeders. “Our findings are directly applicable to make plants more resistant to pathogens,” said study author, Heribert Hirt, Professor of Plant Science at KAUST’s Desert Agriculture Initiative.
An established player in human immunity and inflammation, the role of MAP4k4 in plant disease resistance was unknown. Working with colleagues in France, the KAUST researchers - led by Hirt and postdoctoral fellow, Yunhe Jiang, made the discovery during a large screen for proteins involved in signal transduction in the weedy thale cress Arabidopsis. By studying mutant plants that lack a working copy of MAP4K4, Hirt’s team then drilled down into the core functions of this protein, revealing that showed it was essential for proper immune responses to flg22,
a peptide derived from a bacterial protein found within the filamentous flagellum of disease-causing microbes.
They demonstrated that MAP4K4 directly adds chemical tags (in the form of phosphate groups) at several sites of another protein, BIK1. This helps stabilize BIK1 and promotes the production of highly toxic molecules that play a central role in pathogen resistance, explains Jiang. The researchers also showed that MAP4K4 tags a repressor of BIK1 with phosphate decorations. This chemical adornment disables the negative regulator to further promote BIK1 activation. So far, Hirt and his lab group in the have only described this function of MAP4K4 in Arabidopsisimmunity.*
“The next step is to test our findings also in crops by generating knock-out mutants,” Hirt said. “This is quite feasible now by using CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology that is established in tomato, rice and other species of agricultural importance.”
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International Recognition for Electrochemical Research at Mainz
Chemistry Professor Siegfried R. Waldvogel from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) has received the 2020 Manuel M. Baizer Award from the Electrochemical Society (ECS), an international association based in the USA supporting scientific inquiry in the field of electrochemistry and solid-state science and technology.
Named after American chemist Manuel Mannheim Baizer, the award is considered one of the most prestigious awards in electrochemistry and is presented every two years. Waldvogel is only the second German to ever receive the award, which he will be presented with at the ECS annual conference in Montreal in May 2020.
“So far the Manuel M. Baizer Award has been granted to very few European researchers,” said Waldvogel. “This is all the more reason for me to be proud about it, because it illustrates the brilliance and impact of electrochemical research in Mainz.”
Prof Siegfried Waldvogel
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DFG Funds Research on Self-Organisation of Soft Matter
The German Research Foundation (DFG) is funding a new project to explore the role of interfaces in the synthesis of soft advanced materials and how these interfaces influence their resulting properties. “Our aim is to better understand self- organisation processes in the presence of interfaces so that we can subsequently manipulate them,” explained Professor Thomas Speck, coordinator of the new DFG Research Training Group at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU). The Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research (MPI-P) in Mainz and Technische Universität Darmstadt are also research partners in the new Research Training Group 2516 ‘Control of structure formation in soft matter at and through interfaces’ which has received EUR 3 million over the coming four-and-a-half years. The project is scheduled to start in July 2020.
“With the high quality of its application, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz once more convinced the German Research Foundation and I congratulate all those involved in this achievement. The establishment of the new Research Training Group will promote innovative research programs in the field of soft matter and contribute to the development of young researchers. Thanks to the involvement of the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz and Technische Universität Darmstadt as strategic cooperation partners, early career researchers will have access to the best facilities in the Rhine-Main region. This will further enhance Mainz as a science hub,” added Professor Konrad Wolf, Minister of Science, Continuing Education, and Culture in Rhineland-Palatinate.
An example of the synthesis of a supra- particle made up of many small and large particles. The drying process is controlled in such a way that an interface forms, with the larger particles grouping together at the center. Ill./©: Midya Jiarul, JGU
Interfaces are used routinely to control and accelerate processes in chemical or physical applications of soft matter. “It is thus important that we manage to tailor the functioning and the responsiveness of interfaces to our precise requirements,” said Professor Thomas Speck. By means of predefining an interface it is possible, for instance, to manipulate the linking of molecules so that the self- organisation process then follows a specific plan. As a result, soft materials can be produced that have very specific mechanical, optical, or electronic properties.
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Academy Funds Advanced
Chemical Imaging Hub for Finland
From a total of €13 million announced in December 2019 by the Academy of Finland in support of ten national research infrastructures, €1.6 million will fund a new opening, Quantitative chemically-specific imaging infrastructure for material and life sciences (qCSI), The research infrastructure partners are the University of Helsinki, with involvement from its Pharmacy, Science (Chemistry) and Medicine Faculties; the University of Jyväskylä and LUT University.
The qCSI infrastructure will be a world-class infrastructure for advanced vibrational spectroscopic imaging. The imaging infrastructure will be used for various types of applications in the material and life sciences, involving pharmaceuticals, nanomaterials, foods, cells and tissues. The qCSI infrastructure will open up completely new avenues of research for advanced chemical imaging in Finland.
“This funding allows us to develop an internationally unique infrastructure for Finnish and international researchers interested in high-resolution molecular-level imaging of complex systems. We will establish two new open-access vibrational spectroscopic imaging instruments: fast multiplex coherent Raman and near-field infrared and integrate them with an advanced spectral data processing and analysis platform. A real strength is the synergistic expertise of the partners in spectroscopy, imaging, data analysis and application disciplines, such as pharmacy, medicine and materials science,” explained Head of qCSI infrastructure Professor Clare Strachan from the University of Helsinki.
“With this funding, we are able to extend the spatial resolution of spectroscopic and imaging equipment at Laserlab-NSC down to 10 nm. This nanoscale resolution is significant because the characteristic scale for functional biological molecules and electronic devices is on this scale,” said Professor Mika Pettersson from the University of Jyväskylä.
“The funding enables us to develop an open-access spectral data analysis and image generation platform capable of handling large datasets user-friendly and by remote access. This is essential to optimal research outputs with the imaging equipment,” added Professor Erik Vartiainen from the LUT University.
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