Professor Allan Downie - Rhizobial infection of legumes: sticking around where the acti(o)n’s at

Event Details

Date:

Wednesday, 29 April 2015

Time:

11:00 am - 12:00 pm

Room:

257

UQ Location:

Goddard Building (St Lucia)

Event category(s):

Full Description:: Rhizobial infection of legumes: sticking around where the acti(o)n’s at
Professor Allan Downie, John Innes Centre (Norwich)

Rhizobia attach to and grow on legume roots, where they initiate infections that lead to the formation of nitrogen-fixing nodules. In this lecture I will describe both rhizobial and legume components required for optimal infection. Rhizobia secrete adhesion proteins that are regulated in a population dependent manner and promote foci of attachment. From these foci the rhizobia activate two signalling pathways which induce the host legume to initiate the growth of infection structures (infection threads). This involves localised targeting of plant cell-wall remodelling enzymes. It also requires actin rearrangements controlled by components of the plant SCAR-WAVE actin nucleation complex. It is likely that the actin rearrangements play a key role in targeting of plant enzymes involved in the cell-wall degradation and re-synthesis that are required for development of the infection structures that promote root infection by rhizobia.