| title: | Functional genomics of ozone induced oxidative burst in Arabidopsis thaliana mutants and ecotypes |
|---|---|
| reg no: | ETF6241 |
| project type: | Estonian Science Foundation research grant |
| status: | accepted |
| institution: | University of Tartu |
| head of project: | Hannes Kollist |
| duration: | 01.01.2005 - 31.12.2008 |
| description: | Ozone (O3), triatomic form of oxygen, is a multifaced compound. It is an important protective component against UV radiation in the stratosphere, but in the troposphere it is one of the most notorious air pollutants. Short, high-level O3 exposure causes visible lesions on leaves which resemble the hypersensitive cell death and research during the last years has shown that the resemblance is not only superficial but share many physiological and molecular features. O3 is entering a leaf through open stomata and is converted into reactive oxygen species (ROS) in cell walls of the affected tissues. The production of ROS is self-propagating even after the end of the initial O3 exposure. Application of O3 to plant tissues thus creates first an O3-dependent extracellular oxidative burst, followed by subsequent plant cell-dependent, actively regulated oxidative burst. The latter illustrates O3-exposure as a perfect tool to study signalling cascades that involve extracellular ROS formation in the regulation of gene expression and cell death in intact plants. The main objective of the current project is to broaden our understanding about mechanisms behind O3 induced physiological processes. In detail: (1) to show whether the O3 sensitivity/tolerance of Arabidopsis mutants and ecotypes is caused by their stomatal responses during O3 exposure; (2) to identify new molecular components in O3 induced oxidative burst by analysing knock-out and over-expressor mutants of genes highly and rapidly up regulated during O3 exposure; (3) to screen O3 sensitivity of Arabidopsis ecotypes and analyse molecular basis of selected sensitive/tolerant ecotypes by comparing their global gene expression during O3 exposure. |
| project group | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| no | name | institution | position | |
| 1. | Hannes Kollist | University of Tartu | scientist | |
| 2. | Heino Moldau | University of Tartu | ||