Location: Emerging Pests and Pathogens Research
Title: Understanding and Engineering Symbiont Physiology with Arabidopsis Cell Identity Lines and Post Transcriptional Gene SilencingAuthor
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Submitted to: International Research Conference on Huanglongbing
Publication Type: Abstract Only Publication Acceptance Date: 3/1/2024 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: Symbiont technology, which uses the ability of the soil-dwelling bacteria Agrobacterium tumefaciens to induce a mass of plant cells directly connected to plant stems, was developed as a means to treat systemic plant diseases, such as citrus greening, with continuous production and vascular delivery of therapeutic biomolecules to the affected host. This technology is new, and little is known about the cellular biology, rapid growth, and organization of the host-derived cells that comprise the Symbiont. The Arabidopsis thaliana SAND lines help us understand the organization and function of Symbiont cells by specifically marking cells with similar transcriptional profiles to well-studied cell types. Our data show strong parallels in marker expression and cellular organization between Symbionts and root primordia. Efficient and controlled export of large macromolecules such as peptides and RNA is key to advancing the technology. Post transcriptional gene silencing in Symbionts can help us manipulate expression of specific proteins to improve export. Results show that silencing in Symbionts is efficient, and genes can be turned off by expression of hairpins. Targets under study include genes involved in plasmodesmata function and cell signaling. Work is ongoing to test whether silencing signals can be exported and move systemically. |
