Tuesday November 26th 12:30h Conference Hall 3rd floor
Dr. Selma Gago-Zachert
Department of Microbial Biotechnology, Institute of Biochemistry and Biotechnology. Martin Luther University (MLU) Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale), Germany
“Improving RNA-silencing efficiency to enhance plant protection against pathogens“
Abstract
Structured regions on viral genomes, as well as double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) molecules generated during viral replication, are recognized and processed by the plant RNA silencing machinery to generate viral small interfering RNAs (vsiRNAs). These molecules, bound to Argonaute proteins, guide the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) to cleave and degrade the viral RNAs. Since only a few among the huge population of vsiRNAs are efficient in targeting the viral RNAs we developed a method to identifying those highly efficient ones (esiRNAs) in order to use them to enhance the antiviral response of the plant. Our results indicate that, the esiRNAs identified in vitro efficiently protect plants against viral infection, and that there is a strong correlation between the efficiency observed in vitro and the antiviral activity in planta (Gago-Zachert et al., NAR, 2019). Based on this knowledge we designed multivalent “effective dsRNAs” (edsRNAs), which contain the sequences of several esiRNAs and are preferentially processed to produce the selected esiRNAs. The results of our experiments in plants revealed that the antiviral effect of the edsRNA is optimal compared to a canonical dsRNA generated from a defined viral region (Knoblich et al., 2024, bioRxiv, under review).
Since the esiRNAs derived from edsRNA processing can attack one or more target RNAs at different sites and be active in different silencing complexes, multivalent edsRNAs can provide cross-protection against different pathogens. The flexibility of our selection method provides a tool to combat rapidly evolving pathogens and, since it relies on the plant´s endogenous silencing machinery, it can be adapted to target several plant pathogens.
Short Bio
Degree in Genetics (Faculty of Exact Sciences, National University of Misiones, Misiones, Argentina).
PhD in Biological Sciences (Faculty of Biochemistry, National University of La Plata, La Plata, Argentina) Molecular characterization Citrus tristeza virus (CTV) isolates.
Postdoc and Research Scientist, Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology of Plants (IBMCP), Valencia, Spain. Molecular biology of viroids, characterization of hammerhead ribozymes and plant protection against viroid infections.
Research Scientist and Group Leader, Regulatory RNAs group, Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry (IPB), Halle (Saale), Germany. Molecular and functional characterization of antisense long non-coding RNAs in A. thaliana. In collaboration of Prof. Behrens´ group at the Martin Luther University (MLU) Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale), Germany, development and optimization of strategies for RNA-mediated plant protection.
Staff scientist, Department of Microbial Biotechnology, Institute of Biochemistry and Biotechnology (MLU), Halle (Saale), Germany. RNA-mediated plant protection, natural variation in proteins involved in plant defense and its impact on antiviral defense, plant virology and viral suppressors of silencing.
My scientific interest focuses on three main aspects: the study of subcellular plant pathogens with RNA genomes, the response of plants to infections with subcellular pathogens and how to protect plants against these pathogens using RNA-mediated tools. So, the key words are: RNA molecular biology, subcellular plant pathogens and plant protection.
