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Content archived on 2024-06-18

Ecology of herbivore-induced leaf-to-root signaling in plants: Finding and testing the elusive messengers

Objective

"The capacity of plants to withstand insect attack is of crucial importance for their fitness. Consequently, plants have developed intricate strategies to fend off herbivores and compensate for the negative impact of leaf-removal. Phytohormones, are responsible for many of these effects and are therefore widely recognized as key messengers in plant immunity. While the changes in leaves upon herbivore attack are well understood, it is becoming increasingly clear that the plant’s reaction involves the root system as well: Plants synthesize a variety of secondary metabolites and even defensive proteins in their roots that are then transported aboveground, they increase their assimilate uptake and storage capacity belowground to optimize regrowth after defoliation, and they reduce root expansion to liberate resources for leaf-defenses. Given the fact that roots actively respond to leaf attack, signals have to travel from the site of attack to the roots to induce the observed responses. Yet, until today, not a single herbivore induced leaf-to-root signal has been unambiguously identified.

This project lays out a roadmap to discover the elusive leaf-to-root messengers using Nicotiana attenuata, one of the most advanced molecular and ecological plant-insect systems available today. The signaling cascade of N. attenuata has been thoroughly characterized in the leaves, and its root system is well known to be of central importance in plant defensive processes. By combining the N. attenuata system with novel analytical and molecular approaches, this project has the potential to considerably improve our understanding of the role of roots in aboveground processes and may lead to the identification of novel within-plant signals."

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Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Call for proposal

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FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IEF
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Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

MC-IEF - Intra-European Fellowships (IEF)

Coordinator

MAX-PLANCK-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER WISSENSCHAFTEN EV
EU contribution
€ 162 242,40
Address
HOFGARTENSTRASSE 8
80539 Munchen
Germany

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Region
Bayern Oberbayern München, Kreisfreie Stadt
Activity type
Research Organisations
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

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