In our previous work, we have shown the importance of plant hormone salicilyc acid (SA) in the dynamics in the compatible potato-PVY interaction (Baebler et al., 2009; COBISS.SI-ID 2492751). In our recent work its role in the incompatible hypersensitive resistance (HR) reaction mediated by the Ny-1 allele was investigated on phenotyopical, biochemical, ultrastructural, transcriptome and proteome levels. HR lesion started to develop 3 days post inoculation and completely restricted virus spread, while in NahG plants, uncapable of SA accumulation, showed disease phenotype due to unrestricted viral spreading. The whole transcriptome analysis confirmed the central role of SA in orchestrating Ny-1-mediated responses and showed that the absence of SA leads to significant changes at the transcriptome level, including a delay in activation of expression of genes known to par- ticipate in defence responses, switch from SA to jasmonic acid/ethylene signaling and disease-related downregulation of photosynthesis genes and activation of energy-producing pathways.
COBISS.SI-ID: 3027535
We have developed a brand new web application that allows researchers new insights into the inner workings of agro-economically important plant species (potato, tomato, rice, tobacco) and the model species Arabidopsis on a gene level, which eases the interpretation of next generation data sets and knowledge transfer from a model species to crops. Connecting the application with other various computer tools additionally allows for more complex studies and dynamic updates of the plant defence response model, with the end goal of improving crops against various stressors.
COBISS.SI-ID: 2966607
We investigated the tripartite interaction between an important insect pest, a plant virus and cultivated potato. We have shown first that the beetle larvae grow faster on virus-infected plants than on non-infected plants. We could correlate this outcome with the changes in gene expression of plant defence-related pathways and the release of potato volatile compounds. Potato gene expression profiles were generated using Next generation sequencing (NGS). In PVY-infected plants, ethylene signalling pathway was induced and auxin response transcription factors were attenuated, while no differences were observed in jasmonic acid signalling pathway. Similarly to rearing on virus-infected plants, CPB larvae gained more weight when reared on plants silenced in JA receptor gene (coi1). Although herbivore-induced defence mechanism is regulated predominantly by JA, response in coi1-silenced plants only partially corresponded to the one observed in PVY-infected plants, confirming the role of other plant hormones in modulating this response. The release of some volatiles was different in healthy and PVY-infected plants before CPB larvae infestation, implicating the importance of PVY infection in plant communication with its environment. This study thus contributes to our understanding of plant responses in agro-ecosystems.
COBISS.SI-ID: 3215695
Within this study we explored the inhibitory action of a fungal protein macrocypin on Colorado potato beetle growth and development through inhibition of beetle's digestive proteases. Macrocypin inhibition was effective in the form of isolated recombinant protein as well as produced in genetically modified potato plants. In contrast to other known protease inhibitors macrocypin does not induce beetle's standard digestive tract adaptation characterized by up-regulation of digestive proteases which is desired for plant protection purposes. As the work has high potential for agrotech application an European patent was filed based on this work (PCT/EP2012/065373).
COBISS.SI-ID: 27291431
We developed a new methodology SegMine for semantic analysis of microarray data by exploiting general biological knowledge, and a new workflow environment Orange4WS which supports web service integration. The SegMine methodology consists of two main steps. First, a semantic subgroup discovery algorithm is used to construct semantically annotated rules that identify enriched gene sets. Then, link discovery service BioMine is used for the creation and visualization of new biological hypotheses. The utility of SegMine, implemented as a set of workflows in Orange4WS, is demonstrated in two microarray data analysis applications. We additionally developed improved version of BioMine which enables also analysis of data in plant biology (biomine.ijs.si).
COBISS.SI-ID: 25208871