[Seminar] Dual mode strigolactone signaling and the bud activation switch

Plants for Life 2017 - Invited Speakers

Title: Dual mode strigolactone signaling and the bud activation switch

Speaker: Ottoline Leyser

Affiliation: Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University

Host: Nelson Saibo

Abstract

Plant development is extraordinarily plastic, allowing plants to tune their development to suit the environmental conditions in which they are growing. The degree of shoot branching is an excellent example of plant developmental plasticity. Branches develop from axillary buds established in the axil of each leaf. The buds can remain dormant, or activate to produce a branch, and this switch is regulated by diverse endogenous and exogenous factors, allowing plants to tune their development according to the prevailing environmental conditions. A growing body of evidence suggests that a central regulator of this process is the shoot auxin transport network. The self-organising properties of this network mediate competition between buds, with reinforcement, balancing growth across the shoot system. In addition, local expression of the BRC1 in the bud also affects its ability to activate. This dual-mode system is likely to provide robustness to the bud activation switch. Interestingly, in Arabidopsis, the branch regulating hormone, strigolactone, appears to regulate both the auxin transport network and BRC1 expression. The possible functional significance of this will be discussed.