The haploid male germline of higher plants plays a vital role in plant fertility and crop production through the generation and transport of male gametes, double fertilization, seed production and finally through effective mechanisms of the elimination of parasitic nucleic acids from pollen. Some viroids---parasitic single-stranded circular RNAs adapted to escape such silencing mechanism---can be either pollen-transmissible (spread via pollen) or eliminated from developing pollen, depending on plant-pathogen combinations. There is currently no information about molecular interaction of viroids within pollen but it can be assumed that viroid RNA interacts specifically with the metabolism of developing male gametophyte involving small RNAs. Here we will use a hop isolate of apple fruit crinkle viroid infection of Nicotiana tabacum as a pollen research model to analyze transcriptomic, degradomic and proteomic data for the identification of mechanism(s) suppressing viroid-propagation and leading to viroid elimination at defined check points during male germline development. The main objective is to characterize the interaction of parasitic viroid RNA with tobacco gene expression during pollen development and to identify the natural mechanism(s) associated with viroid suppression and elimination from the male germline.
DFG Programme
Research Grants
International Connection
Czech Republic
