KSEF RDE: Characterizing Soybean Glycerolipid Activities Inmicrobial Defense and Lipid Synthesis

  • Kachroo, Aardra (PI)

Grants and Contracts Details

Description

Understanding the complex networking between plant metabolism and defense signaling is key to developing sustainable and environment-friendly strategies for protecting crops from microbial pests. We find that glycerol-3-phosphate (G3P) and the galactolipids monogalactosyldiacylglycerol (MGDG) and digalactosyldiacylglycerol (DGDG) are essential regulators of systemic immunity in plants. G3P, which is derived from glycolysis, is a key precursor of all lipid synthesis, while MGDG and DGDG are the most abundant lipids in plants. Thus, G3P/MGDG/DGDG are central to plant growth, development and disease. This proposal will identify soybean activities involved in G3P/MGDG/DGDG synthesis and define their roles in systemic immunity and lipid synthesis. The overall goal is to identify activities that could be manipulated to generate soybean plants, which can better withstand pathogen attack while retaining oil quality/quantity. Strategies targeting G3P/MGDG/DGDG synthesis are ideal for this purpose because G3P/lipid-derived immunity is not associated with developmental changes or fitness cost in the plant. The proposed work will also help determine how these metabolites are channeled between defense signaling and oil synthesis.
StatusFinished
Effective start/end date7/1/166/30/17

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