Role of ubiquitin in plant cell death

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Andreas Bachmair
• Subject Area: Plant Genetics and Genomics
• Term: from 2005 to 2008
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 19759870

Programmed cell death in plants occurs in at least three contexts. Firstly, developmental processes such as formation of vascular tissue employ cell death to shape plant tissues. Secondly, defense against pathogens frequently involves the hypersensitive response, a rapid form of programmed cell death. Thirdly, programmed cell death in the form of senescence serves to mobilize nutrients from older plant parts to growing parts and to seeds. All of these processes are incompletely understood, and manipulation of their induction and extent would provide immediate benefits to agriculture. The ubiquitin proteasome pathway is the major route for destruction of unwanted proteins in the eukaryotic cell. In animals, the pathway has a pivotal role in regulating programmed cell death. We have previously demonstrated that the pathway is also involved in plant cell death processes. In this application, we propose to investigate connections between ubiquitin and plant cell death at the molecular level, using mutants and assay systems developed in our preliminary work.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants