Degree Name

MS (Master of Science)

Program

Biology

Date of Award

12-2014

Committee Chair or Co-Chairs

Dhirendra Kumar

Committee Members

Shivakumar Devaiah, Karl Joplin

Abstract

Plants are in a perpetual evolutionary arms race with a wide range of pathogens. Their sessile nature has led plants to evolve defense mechanisms that can quickly recognize a unique stressor and deploy a resistance tailored for a specific attack. The salicylic acid (SA) mediated defense pathway has been shown to be one of the major defense tactics plants can initiate to defend themselves against microbial pathogens. Following a pathogen attack high levels of methyl salicylate (MeSA) are produced that can be converted to SA by the enzyme salicylic acid binding protein 2 (SABP2). A yeast two-hybrid screening was performed to identify protein interactions with SABP2 to better understand the regulation of the enzyme on a cellular level. SBIP-436 is an interacting protein of tobacco SABP2 which showed high homology to phospholipase D-δ (PLD- δ). With an abundance of stimulators PLD- δ may be a lipid signaling modulator developed to perform various functions in different situations. PLD- δ may be a key player in a lipid signaling cascade in the SA mediated defense pathway. We present a novel Nicotiana tabacum PLD- δ putative gene construct. We demonstrate that the putative PLD- δ is subject to alternative splicing and its expression is differentially modulated under biotic and abiotic stress. Our results indicate that this putative PLD- δ may play a role in the SA mediated defense pathway.

Document Type

Thesis - unrestricted

Copyright

Copyright by the authors.

Share

COinS