IBIP seminar

Thursday, December 13, 2018
Room 106 at 2:00 pm

Regulation of receptor kinase-mediated signaling: from immunity to beyond

Cyril Zipfel

Plants genomes encode hundreds of cell surface-localized receptor kinases (RKs) that control almost all aspects of plant life, ranging from reproduction, growth to responses to the external environment. Using RKs that function as immune receptors by perceiving microbial elicitors, we are studying the molecular basis of plant immunity, but also more generally how plant RKs work at the mechanistic level. Using the leucine-rich repeat RKs FLS2 and EFR (which perceive bacterial flagellin and EF-Tu, respectively) as model systems, we are investigating how plant RKs function as part of multimeric protein complexes at the plasma membrane – often in complex with other RKs, which act as regulatory proteins. Our recent work uncovered the importance of these regulatory RKs and RK-associated proteins in controlling the assembly of functional heteromeric receptor complexes. These observations also raise the inherent question of how these dynamic receptor complexes get formed and organized at the plasma membrane, and of how they get activated in response to ligand-binding. Building on some recently published work, I will present unpublished results that shed some light on these important biological questions.

Contact : Alexandre Martinière

Contacts IBIP :
Sabine Zimmermann
Alexandre Martinière
Florent Pantin
Chantal Baracco
Véronique Rafin