Dem IPB wird erneut ein beispielhaftes Handeln im Sinne einer chancengleichheitsorientierten Personal- und Organisationspolitik bescheinigt. Das Institut erhält zum 6. Mal in Folge das TOTAL E-QUALITY…
Die Plant Science Student Conference (PSSC) wird seit 20 Jahren im jährlichen Wechsel von Studierenden der beiden Leibniz-Institute IPK und IPB organisiert. Im Interview erläutern Christina Wäsch…
Calcium (Ca2+), as a second messenger, is crucial for signal transduction processes during many biotic interactions. We demonstrate that cellular [Ca2+] elevations are early events in the interaction between the plant growth‐promoting fungus Piriformospora indica and Arabidopsis thaliana . A cell wall extract (CWE) from the fungus promotes the growth of wild‐type seedlings but not of seedlings from P. indica ‐insensitive mutants. The extract and the fungus also induce a similar set of genes in Arabidopsis roots, among them genes with Ca2+ signalling‐related functions. The CWE induces a transient cytosolic Ca2+ ([Ca2+]cyt) elevation in the roots of Arabidopsis and tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum ) plants, as well as in BY‐2 suspension cultures expressing the Ca2+ bioluminescent indicator aequorin. Nuclear Ca2+ transients were also observed in tobacco BY‐2 cells. The Ca2+ response was more pronounced in roots than in shoots and involved Ca2+ uptake from the extracellular space as revealed by inhibitor studies. Inhibition of the Ca2+ response by staurosporine and the refractory nature of the Ca2+ elevation suggest that a receptor may be involved. The CWE does not stimulate H2O2 production and the activation of defence gene expression, although it led to phosphorylation of mitogen‐activated protein kinases (MAPKs) in a Ca2+‐dependent manner. The involvement of MAPK6 in the mutualistic interaction was shown for an mpk6 line, which did not respond to P. indica . Thus, Ca2+ is likely to be an early signalling component in the mutualistic interaction between P. indica and Arabidopsis or tobacco.