Speaker: Cankui Zhang, Purdue University associate professor in interdisciplinary life science

Title: Vascular tissue-mediated molecular responses to low phosphorus

Abstract: Phosphorus (P) is an essential macronutrient for plant growth and development. P deficiency is becoming one of the most limiting factors for crop productivity. It has been discovered that vascular tissue-mediated systemic signaling plays important roles in plant responses to P deficient growth conditions. In my laboratory, Plantago major has been used as a model species to study transcriptomic alterations in vascular tissues due to the ease of vascular tissue collection from this species. Multiple genes associated with the function of sucrose phloem metabolisms have been discovered to be important in adapting plant to the low P stress. Additionally, we have employed translating ribosome affinity purification (TRAP) to identify differentially expressed genes enriched in the phloem under low P. Two phloem-specifically expressed genes, AtERF and AtROXY, have been found to participate in P homeostasis by regulating root architecture. The insights from our studies offer promising strategies for the production of crops with increased P uptake efficiency.

Host: Michelle Guo, genetics, development and cell biology assistant professor