ERC Synergy Grant for Uni Hohenheim:
Communication processes between plant cells [06.11.20]
Reputed award from the European Research Council (ERC) / EUR 10 million for four working groups / one of them headed up by Professor Dr. Waltraud Schulze at the University of Hohenheim
Together with Prof. Dr. Wolf B. Frommer and Prof. Dr. Rüdiger Simon from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) and Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Baumeister at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry (MPIB) in Martinsried, Prof. Dr. Waltraud Schulze at the University of Hohenheim is to receive funding from the European Research Council (ERC). The ‘SymPore’ project will now be realized with funding of more than EUR 10 million. The mission of this Synergy Project is to understand the structure and function of the enigmatic plant intercellular channels, referred to as ‘plasmodesmata’.
In an organism made up of many differentiated cells, each of which completes different tasks, cells need to communicate with each other and exchange substances. Plasmodesmata are thus key routes for coordinating their tasks for the benefit of the organism as a whole.
In animals, this function is, in part, mediated by protein complexes that form selective channels known as ‘gap junctions’, protein complexes that create intercellular connections. By comparison, plasmodesmata are much more complex. “Plasmodesmata play an important role in distributing photosynthetic products from leaves around the plant. They are the key to steering development processes such as flower formation or root hair growth,” explained Professor Dr. Schulze. “Understanding how plasmodesmata function is particularly important if we want to gain insight into how yield is generated or how the plant integrates development signals and information from its environment.” Plant viruses also use plasmodesmata to spread from one cell to the next.
However, we do not yet understand exactly how this happens. Plasmodesmata are too small for modern microscopy methods but too large and complex for traditional structural elucidation. Plasmodesmata have a diameter of 50 - 160 nanometers. This means these structures are smaller than the limit of resolution of optical microscopes. Even traditional electron microscopes cannot display these highly complex structures sufficiently.
Four working groups in concert
In order to understand these fascinating structures, four working groups have now come together under the name SymPore (“Plasmodesmata as Symplasmic Pores for Plant Cell-to-Cell Communication”). By using complementary state-of-the-art methods over the next six years in close cooperation, they aim to explain the blueprint, structure, and function of plasmodesmata.
The working group led by Professor Waltraud Schulze at the University of Hohenheim will identify the ‘components’ of plasmodesmata, which include lipids as well as proteins. The exact components of plasmodesmata are largely unknown. “In order to understand the structure and function of plasmodesmata, it is first important to establish whether proteins and lipids are involved at all and how they interact with each other,” commented Professor Dr. Schulze.
The research award “Freedom for Research” of the Gips-Schüle Foundation presented to the researcher in 2018 enabled her to carry out the preliminary work on this subject. “The Gips-Schüle research award gave me the necessary flexibility to open up a new field of research and to carry out the necessary preliminary work,” stressed Professor Dr. Schulze.
The two working groups at HHU will focus on preparing a blueprint showing where the plasmodesmata components are localized and their composition. Professor Dr. Frommer, the group spokesperson, will use refined biosensor technology to develop methods that visualize the function of plasmodesmata in living plants.
Prof. Dr. Baumeister and his staff at MPIB in Martinsried are world leaders in elucidating complex structures with the highest resolution – down to individual molecules – using cryo-electron tomography. It is expected that state-of-the-art methods developed by him at MPIB will provide a breakthrough and thus help the team to create an overall picture of the structure and function of plasmodesmata.
All of the team agree: “We can only develop an overall picture of the structure and function of plasmodesmata by working closely together. The Synergy Grant from the European Research Council will now allow for this collaboration to take place!”
BACKGROUND: ERC Synergy Grants
ERC Synergy Grants are amongst the best-endowed funding tools in Europe. They allow a team of top-class researchers to bring together complementary skills, ideas, knowledge and infrastructure to work together on researching some of the most exciting and competitive questions in modern science. Synergy Grants are highly competitive: of the 441 applications submitted in 2020, only 34 will receive funding, thereof just two on the subject of plants.
Further information: https://www.eubuero.de/erc-synergy.htm
Text: Claussen (HHU) / Elsner
Contact for press:
Prof. Dr. Waltraud Schulze, University of Hohenheim, Department of Plant Systems Biology
T +49 (0)711 459 24770, E wschulze@uni-hohenheim.de
